Kroger (NYSE:KR) Price Target Raised to $63.00 at Guggenheim

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its target price hoisted by Guggenheim from $61.00 to $63.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on Kroger in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.55.

Kroger Stock Down 0.1 %

KR opened at $60.50 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.37. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $42.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.18.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kroger

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Kroger by 11,570.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after buying an additional 2,706,398 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Kroger by 698.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares during the period. 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.