Kroger (NYSE:KR) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its price objective boosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $71.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on KR. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $66.81 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.95. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $49.04 and a fifty-two week high of $67.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 169,559 shares of company stock worth $10,587,476 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,223,697 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,027,979,000 after purchasing an additional 773,182 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Kroger by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,436,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,479,000 after purchasing an additional 416,962 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Kroger by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,113,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $863,060,000 after purchasing an additional 120,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $598,390,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by 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.