Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Downgraded to “Neutral” Rating by Mizuho

Mizuho lowered shares of Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $31.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $38.00.

KHC has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $37.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.36.

Kraft Heinz Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:KHC opened at $28.62 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.83. Kraft Heinz has a fifty-two week low of $27.25 and a fifty-two week high of $38.96. The firm has a market cap of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. Kraft Heinz had a net margin of 5.24% and a return on equity of 7.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Kraft Heinz will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.59%. Kraft Heinz’s dividend payout ratio is presently 144.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,779,524,000 after buying an additional 14,996,486 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kraft Heinz by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,745,734 shares of the company’s stock worth $604,644,000 after buying an additional 595,406 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter worth about $411,304,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz in the 4th quarter worth about $324,857,000. Hedge funds and other 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.