Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Citigroup

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) was downgraded by research analysts at Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $28.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $34.00. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 2.17% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on KHC. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $30.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $40.00) on shares of Kraft Heinz in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.07.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

Shares of KHC stock opened at $28.62 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $34.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.47. Kraft Heinz has a one year low of $27.25 and a one year high of $38.96. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.83.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KHC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the fourth 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 boosted its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,400,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,898,000 after acquiring an additional 6,366,732 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,745,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $604,644,000 after acquiring an additional 595,406 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kraft Heinz in the third quarter worth approximately $411,304,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kraft Heinz during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $324,857,000. 78.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.