Kroger (NYSE:KR) Research Coverage Started at Melius Research

Melius Research began coverage on shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on KR. Argus boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $59.36.

Kroger Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $55.47 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. Kroger has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Kroger will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In related news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total transaction of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at $984,975.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,743.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 8,010 shares of company stock valued at $444,056. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KR. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Kroger by 53.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 3,212 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Kroger by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,882,000 after purchasing an additional 129,873 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in Kroger by 82.2% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 59,949 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $671,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,453,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,653,000 after purchasing an additional 214,852 shares during the period. 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.