Calamos Advisors LLC Sells 2,920 Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)

Calamos Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 223,494 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,920 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $8,265,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KHC. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 39,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 3,916 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth about $5,399,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,768,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,478,000 after purchasing an additional 247,896 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 42.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 457,923 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,934,000 after purchasing an additional 136,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 37.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,029,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,897,000 after purchasing an additional 832,653 shares during the period. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on KHC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Kraft Heinz in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 target price for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.57.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $37.78 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.39. The Kraft Heinz Company has a 1-year low of $30.68 and a 1-year high of $41.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.99 billion. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.72% and a return on equity of 7.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

Kraft Heinz Profile

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.