Kroger (NYSE:KR) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its price objective lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $60.00 to $63.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

KR has been the subject of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.31.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE:KR opened at $63.30 on Thursday. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $43.51 and a fifty-two week 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 50 day moving average price of $58.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.86%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. The trade was a 5.95 % 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. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Kroger by 1.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted 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 period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Kroger during the second quarter worth approximately $10,336,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,524,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 19,186 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.