Kroger (NYSE:KR) Price Target Raised to $66.00

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its target price raised by UBS Group from $63.00 to $66.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on KR. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Kroger from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.31.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $62.06 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.28 and its 200 day moving average is $54.89. Kroger has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $63.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $44.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.06%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 58,821 shares of company stock worth $3,445,490 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kroger by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after buying an additional 36,083 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter worth $10,336,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth about $6,524,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in Kroger by 16.0% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 138,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 19,186 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.