Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on the stock from $28.00 to $27.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a hold rating on the stock. Kraft Heinz traded as low as $24.83 and last traded at $24.86, with a volume of 1140220 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $25.15.

KHC has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $27.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $29.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $29.06.

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.91, for a total value of $697,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,116,400. This trade represents a 38.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 0.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,435,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,644,890,000 after buying an additional 454,868 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,376,394 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,197,438,000 after buying an additional 462,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 14.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,446,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $681,663,000 after buying an additional 3,392,470 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 7.1% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,584,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $454,036,000 after buying an additional 1,171,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz during the second quarter worth approximately $276,159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $29.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.36.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 8th. The company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 20.83% and a positive return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $6.39 billion during the quarter. On average, research analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz Company will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.4%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -35.63%.

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.