Kroger (NYSE:KR) Price Target Raised to $75.00 at Evercore ISI

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its price objective hoisted by Evercore ISI from $70.00 to $75.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on KR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.81.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock opened at $64.86 on Thursday. Kroger has a 52-week low of $44.48 and a 52-week high of $65.75. The company has a market cap of $46.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.66 and its 200 day moving average is $57.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.86%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In related news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% in the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.