Kroger (NYSE:KR) Cut to “Sell” at Melius

Kroger (NYSE:KR) was downgraded by equities researchers at Melius from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Melius’ price objective indicates a potential downside of 14.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on KR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America boosted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.39.

Kroger Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $67.77 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.52. The company has a market capitalization of $49.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Kroger has a 1 year low of $49.04 and a 1 year high of $68.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total transaction of $86,723.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $806,523.90. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total value of $1,872,355.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. The trade was a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 223,244 shares of company stock worth $15,001,418 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth approximately $598,390,000. Steadfast Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $277,989,000. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $264,207,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Kroger by 11,570.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706,398 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kroger Company Profile

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.