Yael Cosset Sells 17,685 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) SVP Yael Cosset sold 17,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.19, for a total transaction of $1,170,570.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 139,124 shares in the company, valued at $9,208,617.56. The trade was a 11.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Yael Cosset also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 10th, Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of Kroger stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE KR traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $66.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,443,260 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,821,525. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $47.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.61. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $49.04 and a 12 month high of $68.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price objective on Kroger in a report on Thursday, March 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.88.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,223,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,027,979,000 after purchasing an additional 773,182 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Kroger by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,436,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,479,000 after acquiring an additional 416,962 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,113,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,060,000 after purchasing an additional 120,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Kroger in the 4th quarter worth $598,390,000. 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.