Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 90,356 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 159% compared to the average volume of 34,887 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KHC. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered Kraft Heinz from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $24.00 price target on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Kraft Heinz from $26.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.80.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

KHC stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, hitting $24.60. The company had a trading volume of 6,682,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,736,709. The business has a 50 day moving average of $24.01 and a 200 day moving average of $23.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Kraft Heinz has a fifty-two week low of $21.03 and a fifty-two week high of $28.09.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.11. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 13.64% and a positive return on equity of 7.10%. The firm had revenue of $6.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. Kraft Heinz’s quarterly revenue was down 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Kraft Heinz will post 2.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -54.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 5,820.8% during the third quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 1,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 1,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA bought a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile