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

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) had its target price cut by analysts at Barclays from $33.00 to $29.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Barclays‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 0.97% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Mizuho cut Kraft Heinz from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $34.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Kraft Heinz from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Kraft Heinz from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.86.

Kraft Heinz Stock Performance

NASDAQ:KHC traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $29.28. 1,555,945 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,640,107. 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 market capitalization of $35.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.77.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts anticipate that Kraft Heinz will post 3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kraft Heinz by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,508,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,779,524,000 after acquiring an additional 14,996,486 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kraft Heinz in the 3rd quarter valued at $411,304,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kraft Heinz during the 4th quarter valued at $324,857,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Kraft Heinz by 16.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,821,000 after buying an additional 1,944,019 shares in the last quarter. 78.17% of the stock is 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.