Brokerages Set Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) PT at $30.35

Shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) have earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and sixteen have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $30.3529.

KHC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Cfra Research cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Kraft Heinz from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $25.00 to $27.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. DZ Bank cut shares of 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Kraft Heinz to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Insider Activity at Kraft Heinz

In related news, Director Elio Leoni Sceti sold 25,000 shares of Kraft Heinz stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,116,400. This trade represents a 38.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 101,980,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,103,277,000 after purchasing an additional 11,472,071 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,392,470 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 22.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 10,480,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $318,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895,722 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,289,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $285,286,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039,885 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Kraft Heinz by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,585,167 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,650,000 after purchasing an additional 1,628,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

KHC stock opened at $27.76 on Thursday. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $25.44 and a one year high of $36.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $26.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $32.86 billion, a PE ratio of -6.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.23.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. Kraft Heinz had a negative net margin of 20.83% and a positive return on equity of 7.40%. Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.8%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.