Kroger (NYSE:KR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its target price increased 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 equities analysts have also commented on KR. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Mkm raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Six research 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.31.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR opened at $62.06 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.90 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. Kroger has a 52-week low of $43.51 and a 52-week high of $63.59.

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

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,821 shares of company stock worth $3,445,490 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 3.6% during the third quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 13,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Kroger by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,269,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,426,000 after buying an additional 281,878 shares during the period. Tri Ri Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in Kroger during the third quarter worth about $4,037,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Kroger by 3.7% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 10,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $619,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 59,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,391,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is 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.