The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Brokerages

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.86.

A number of analysts recently commented on KHC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho cut shares of Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $33.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $28.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,524,000 after acquiring an additional 14,996,486 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,745,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,644,000 after purchasing an additional 595,406 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the third quarter valued at $411,304,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter worth about $324,857,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kraft Heinz Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ KHC opened at $30.23 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.40. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $38.96. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.62% and a return on equity of 7.58%. Research analysts expect that Kraft Heinz will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is currently 70.80%.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets food and beverage products in North America and internationally. Its products include condiments and sauces, cheese and dairy products, meals, meats, refreshment beverages, coffee, and other grocery products under the Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Heinz, Philadelphia, Lunchables, Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Heinz, ABC, Master, Quero, Kraft, Golden Circle, Wattie's, Pudliszki, and Plasmon brands.