UPDATE: Jefferies Downgrades HJ Heinz Company to Hold; Waiting for North American Recovery

Jefferies reduces its price target on HJ Heinz Company

from $60 to $56 and reiterates a Hold rating on shares. Jefferies comments, "We are downgrading HNZ to Hold and are lowering out PT to $56. While the international businesses seem to do well, the North American Consumer Products division continues to struggle. After several attempts to improve this business, we prefer to move to the sidelines until the company shows some turnaround success. FY13 guidance was disappointing, in our view, with potentially all of the EPS growth coming from tax benefits." HNZ closed at $53.55 on Thursday.