The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.32

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th.

Kroger has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Kroger has a dividend payout ratio of 25.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Kroger to earn $4.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.9%.

Kroger Stock Up 2.7 %

KR traded up $1.68 on Monday, hitting $63.32. The company had a trading volume of 6,986,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,205,222. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.13. Kroger has a 12-month low of $44.48 and a 12-month high of $64.10. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Kroger’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. Analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on KR. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.80.

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.