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

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $36.55.

A number of research firms recently commented on KHC. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 0.1 %

KHC stock opened at $31.97 on Friday. Kraft Heinz has a 52 week low of $30.40 and a 52 week high of $38.96. The company has a market capitalization of $38.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $33.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. The company had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 144.14%.

Insider Transactions at Kraft Heinz

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total value of $1,505,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. The trade was a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KHC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Kraft Heinz during the 3rd quarter valued at $411,304,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,898,000 after purchasing an additional 6,366,732 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after purchasing an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 47.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 387.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,455,033 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,086,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156,712 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kraft Heinz Company Profile

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.