Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Stock Price

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $39.00 to $38.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on KHC. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $38.00 to $37.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.25.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $33.49 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $34.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.49. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $31.58 and a one year high of $38.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is 144.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 454,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,656,000 after acquiring an additional 80,101 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,006,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,053,000 after purchasing an additional 234,783 shares in the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter valued at about $654,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,001,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 760,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,495,000 after purchasing an additional 86,311 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.