Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 38,748 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately47% compared to the average volume of 26,318 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $697,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 40,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,116,400. This represents a 38.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 493.4% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 12,354 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 10,272 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 7.8% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 90,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,746,000 after buying an additional 6,551 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,171,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,665,000 after buying an additional 103,548 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 28.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 15,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 3,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 58.3% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 22,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,000 after buying an additional 8,144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 1.2%

KHC opened at $27.29 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.46 and a 200-day moving average of $28.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Kraft Heinz has a 1-year low of $25.44 and a 1-year high of $36.31.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.05. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 20.83% and a positive return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.510-2.670 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.9%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently -35.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KHC shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $29.00 price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $31.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $29.76.

Kraft Heinz Company 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.