Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Invests $654,000 in The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 20,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $654,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 9.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $292,061,000 after buying an additional 799,581 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,250,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,296,000 after buying an additional 206,881 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 2nd quarter worth $2,001,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 14.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,063,076 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,912,000 after buying an additional 505,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the second quarter valued at about $240,000. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on KHC shares. Citigroup lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.45.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $34.80 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The Kraft Heinz Company has a twelve month low of $30.68 and a twelve month high of $38.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.04. The company has a market cap of $42.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.49.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.55 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.38% and a net margin of 7.30%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cory Onell sold 4,076 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $146,736.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 143,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,182,920. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, and other grocery products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Golden Circle, Wattie's, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands.