Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Position in Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 61,243 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,567 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $1,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Kraft Heinz by 172.4% during the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 1,245 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 164.7% in the second quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 1,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 807 shares during the period. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Albion Financial Group UT bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on KHC. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $30.00 to $27.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $26.37.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Miguel Patricio sold 125,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.82, for a total value of $3,102,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 686,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,046,797.94. The trade was a 15.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 1.0%

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $23.76 on Wednesday. Kraft Heinz Company has a 1 year low of $22.91 and a 1 year high of $33.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $24.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.73. The stock has a market cap of $28.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.37 and a beta of 0.09.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.27 billion. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 17.35% and a positive return on equity of 7.26%. Kraft Heinz’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.57 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.7%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -42.90%.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

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.