The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires 57,092 Shares of Kraft Heinz Company $KHC

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) by 11.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 561,627 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,092 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Kraft Heinz were worth $13,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz in the second quarter worth $1,803,911,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 2,805.5% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 38,073,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $899,289,000 after purchasing an additional 36,762,849 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3,034.1% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 16,477,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,957,000 after purchasing an additional 15,951,271 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter worth about $332,382,000. Finally, Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter worth about $181,408,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $24.60 on Friday. Kraft Heinz Company has a 12 month low of $21.03 and a 12 month high of $28.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.60, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.46 and a 200-day moving average of $23.97.

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

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is currently -55.94%.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company that develops, manufactures and markets branded products for consumers, retailers, foodservice operators and other customers. Its portfolio includes condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, beverages, snacks and other packaged foods.

The company’s well-known brands include Kraft, Heinz, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Velveeta, Lunchables, Capri Sun, Jell-O, Maxwell House and Classico, among others.