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

Shares of Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) have earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the twenty-one research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.6111.

KHC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $26.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $23.00 price target on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Cory Onell sold 4,991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total value of $121,480.94. Following the sale, the insider owned 197,463 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,806,249.42. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,933,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,496,131,000 after purchasing an additional 616,283 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,376,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,197,438,000 after purchasing an additional 462,963 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,725,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,347,000 after buying an additional 1,870,310 shares in the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 3,034.1% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 16,477,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,957,000 after buying an additional 15,951,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 13,801,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $336,134,000 after buying an additional 106,970 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $21.56 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.52 billion, a PE ratio of -4.36 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Kraft Heinz has a 1-year low of $21.03 and a 1-year high of $31.15. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.59 and its 200-day moving average is $24.50.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $6.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.38 billion. Kraft Heinz had a positive return on equity of 7.07% and a negative net margin of 23.44%.Kraft Heinz’s revenue was down 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Kraft Heinz has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.980-2.100 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kraft Heinz will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -32.39%.

About Kraft Heinz

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ: KHC) is a global food and beverage company formed in 2015 through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz Company. The combination created one of the largest packaged-food companies in the world, built around well-known consumer brands. The merger was supported by major investors and established a multi-national platform for branded food products.

Kraft Heinz develops, manufactures, markets and distributes a broad portfolio of branded packaged foods and condiments.