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

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 74,729 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 177% compared to the typical volume of 26,984 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Kraft Heinz from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kraft Heinz from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.19.

Insider Activity at Kraft Heinz

In other news, insider Diana Frost sold 18,502 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $426,471.10. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 102,667 shares in the company, valued at $2,366,474.35. The trade was a 15.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the first quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Key Capital Management INC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC opened at $25.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.07 billion, a PE ratio of -5.22 and a beta of 0.09. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $21.03 and a one year high of $29.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.56.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.89 billion. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 23.05% and a positive return on equity of 7.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.100 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Kraft Heinz will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.3%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently -32.92%.

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.