Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) Hits New 12-Month Low - Here's What Happened

The Kraft Heinz Company (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $28.48 and last traded at $28.74, with a volume of 968866 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KHC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Kraft Heinz from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $38.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Kraft Heinz from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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 report on Thursday, October 31st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Kraft Heinz from $39.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Kraft Heinz from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kraft Heinz has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.58.

Kraft Heinz Stock Up 0.9 %

The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $31.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.62 and a beta of 0.48.

Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.42 billion. Kraft Heinz had a return on equity of 7.46% and a net margin of 5.24%. Kraft Heinz's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that The Kraft Heinz Company will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kraft Heinz Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.56%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Kraft Heinz's dividend payout ratio is currently 144.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Pedro F. P. Navio sold 45,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.45, for a total transaction of $1,505,250.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 168,195 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,626,122.75. This trade represents a 21.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kraft Heinz

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Kraft Heinz in the third quarter valued at approximately $411,304,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,366,732 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Kraft Heinz by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,150,328 shares of the company's stock worth $669,821,000 after buying an additional 1,944,019 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kraft Heinz by 47.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,536,214 shares of the company's stock valued at $178,379,000 after buying an additional 1,778,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Kraft Heinz by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,813,268 shares of the company's stock valued at $269,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,200 shares during 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.