The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.17.

KR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th.

Kroger Trading Up 0.8 %

KR stock opened at $55.24 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Kroger has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. Kroger’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at $214,889.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 30,251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total transaction of $1,693,450.98. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 105,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,894,582.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767. 1.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 4,810.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,955,000 after acquiring an additional 556,266 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,715,000 after purchasing an additional 11,707 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 156,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,380 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Kroger by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,647,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,175,000 after buying an additional 115,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Kroger by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 102,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,671,000 after buying an additional 37,892 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.