The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) Receives $40.57 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.57.

Several research firms recently issued reports on KHC. Citigroup assumed coverage on Kraft Heinz in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Kraft Heinz from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $42.00 in a report on Monday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Insider Activity at Kraft Heinz

In other Kraft Heinz news, Director Miguel Patricio sold 131,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.02, for a total transaction of $4,999,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 992,049 shares in the company, valued at $37,717,702.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KHC. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kraft Heinz by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 83,293,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,956,916,000 after acquiring an additional 6,870,945 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,398,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,603,349,000 after purchasing an additional 183,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 37,076,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,316,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,080,196 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 10.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,601,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,581,000 after buying an additional 2,369,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 1,835.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,527,499 shares of the company’s stock worth $794,964,000 after buying an additional 18,518,584 shares during the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Kraft Heinz stock opened at $36.90 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.67. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $30.68 and a one year high of $41.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.01. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.42% and a net margin of 10.72%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kraft Heinz will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 8th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 7th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. Kraft Heinz’s payout ratio is 69.26%.

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.