Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Takes $11.68 Million Position in Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 494,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,678,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,933,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,496,131,000 after acquiring an additional 616,283 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the second quarter valued at about $1,803,911,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,725,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,347,000 after purchasing an additional 1,870,310 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3,034.1% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 16,477,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,957,000 after buying an additional 15,951,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth $332,382,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Kraft Heinz

Here are the key news stories impacting Kraft Heinz this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investment in key brands is showing early signs of improving market share, with volumes and earnings expected to recover in 2027 as spending initiatives gain traction. Emerging Markets are a notable growth driver, posting 8.5% organic sales growth and offering long-term expansion potential. The stock’s valuation is also viewed as reasonable. Kraft Heinz: Early Signs Of Turnaround Gaining Traction And Reasonable Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks Research raised its FY2027 EPS forecast to $2.09 from $2.04, and increased estimates for Q2 and Q3 2027 and Q4 2027. These revisions support the view that current investments could produce better profitability beyond 2026. Kraft Heinz analyst estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: The FY2026 EPS forecast now stands at $2.06, matching consensus but below Zacks’ previous $2.08 estimate. FY2028 EPS is projected at $2.14, slightly below the prior $2.15 forecast, suggesting modest long-term revisions rather than a broad earnings reset.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks lowered Q3 2026 EPS to $0.43 from $0.47, cut Q4 2026 EPS to $0.49 from $0.50, and reduced Q1 2027 EPS to $0.52 from $0.53. The revisions reflect expected pressure from higher brand investment and indicate that the turnaround may weigh on earnings before benefits appear.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on KHC shares. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings lowered Kraft Heinz from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Kraft Heinz from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.62.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of KHC opened at $25.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $30.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.94 and a beta of 0.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.68. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $21.03 and a 12 month high of $28.10.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.03. Kraft Heinz had a positive return on equity of 7.10% and a negative net margin of 13.64%.The company had revenue of $6.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.18 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.030-2.090 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -55.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $426,471.10. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 102,667 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,474.35. This trade represents a 15.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The combination created one of the largest packaged-food companies in the world, built around well-known consumer brands. The merger was supported by major investors and established a multi-national platform for branded food products.

Kraft Heinz develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded packaged foods and condiments.