Here’s What Smart Money Thinks of Kraft Heinz Co (KHC)

Insider Monkey has finished processing more than 700 13F filings made by hedge funds and prominent investors in the third quarter. These filings show these funds’ portfolio positions as of September 30 and in this article we are going to take a look at the aggregate smart money sentiment towards Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), which made its debut during the quarter.

Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) investors should pay attention to strong interest from top investors, as 56 of them reported holding stakes in the company by the end of the third quarter. At the end of this article we will examine companies such as Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (ADR) (NYSE:MTU), and QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) and compare the interest in those stocks with that of Kraft Heinz.

If you’d ask most investors, hedge funds are perceived as worthless, outdated investment tools of the past. While there are more than 8,000 funds trading at the moment, our experts hone in on the leaders of this group, approximately 700 funds. Most estimates calculate that this group of people manage the lion’s share of all hedge funds’ total asset base, and by tracking their best picks, Insider Monkey has unearthed numerous investment strategies that have historically outstripped Mr. Market. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points a year for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the key action surrounding Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC).

Hedge fund activity in Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC)

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 56 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, owning just under $26 billion worth of its shares, 30.40% of the new company’s common stock. As it was a newly-listed stock, each of the positions is technically considered a new position, although many of the investors previously held shares of Kraft.

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has the most valuable position in Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC), worth close to $22.98 billion, corresponding to 18% of its total 13F portfolio. The second-largest stake is held by Third Point, managed by Dan Loeb, which holds a $582.3 million position; the fund has 5.5% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers with similar optimism comprise D E Shaw, James Dinan’s York Capital Management, and Jonathan Auerbach’s Hound Partners.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (ADR) (NYSE:MTU), QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX). All of these stocks’ market caps are closest to Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC)’s market cap.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 49 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.50 billion. As mentioned, that figure was $25.99 billion in Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC)’s case. QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (ADR) (NYSE:MTU) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. While Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) is not the most popular stock in this group in terms of the number of shareholders, given the immense amount of money invested in the stock, it is nonetheless intriguing and is worth considering as a long-term addition to one’s portfolio.