Kraft Heinz Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:KHC)

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 75,561 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 172% compared to the typical daily volume of 27,735 call options.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $426,471.10. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KHC. Graney & King LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 29,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 70.2% during the fourth quarter. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 8,281 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 52,833 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,281,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 0.9%

Kraft Heinz stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $24.70. The company had a trading volume of 3,197,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,226,429. Kraft Heinz has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $28.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.64 and a beta of 0.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.68 and its 200-day moving average is $23.77.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $6.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.030-2.090 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on KHC shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price target for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.62.

About Kraft Heinz

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.