Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and fourteen have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.35.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Kraft Heinz from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen raised Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. DZ Bank cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $31.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Mizuho set a $29.00 target price on shares of Kraft Heinz and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,779,524,000 after acquiring an additional 14,996,486 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at about $324,857,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 4,390.7% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,444,062 shares of the company’s stock worth $226,523,000 after purchasing an additional 7,278,295 shares during the last quarter. Southeastern Asset Management Inc. TN purchased a new position in shares of Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,080,000. Finally, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can grew its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 341.9% during the fourth quarter. Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. Can now owns 3,314,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,773,000 after buying an additional 2,564,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC opened at $25.75 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $30.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.27. Kraft Heinz has a fifty-two week low of $25.53 and a fifty-two week high of $36.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.32.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 10.44% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company had revenue of $6 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is currently 73.06%.

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.