The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $64.31.

A number of research firms recently commented on KR. Melius Research began coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th.

Kroger Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $61.18 on Wednesday. Kroger has a 1 year low of $44.07 and a 1 year high of $63.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.26 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 188,438 shares of company stock worth $11,657,598. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 6.2% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 6,121 shares of the company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co acquired a new position in Kroger during the 2nd quarter valued at $315,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Kroger by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 138,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,939,000 after purchasing an additional 36,903 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, PGGM Investments bought a new position in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter worth about $396,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

About Kroger

The Kroger Co operates as a food and drug retailer in the United States. The company operates combination food and drug stores, multi-department stores, marketplace stores, and price impact warehouses. Its combination food and drug stores offer natural food and organic sections, pharmacies, general merchandise, pet centers, fresh seafood, and organic produce; and multi-department stores provide apparel, home fashion and furnishings, outdoor living, electronics, automotive products, and toys.