Kraft Heinz’s (KHC) In-Line Rating Reaffirmed at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI reissued their in-line rating on shares of Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $35.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $38.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $43.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kraft Heinz currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.91.

Kraft Heinz Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ KHC opened at $29.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.41. Kraft Heinz has a 12 month low of $29.71 and a 12 month high of $38.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.00 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.48.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Kraft Heinz will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 144.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,626,122.75. This represents a 21.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kraft Heinz

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KHC. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after buying an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after acquiring an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter worth about $411,304,000. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 9.7% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,064,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,061,000 after acquiring an additional 799,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.17% of the company’s stock.

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.