Kroger (NYSE:KR) Cut to Market Perform at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $60.00 target price on the stock.

KR has been the subject of several other reports. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on Kroger in a research note 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.64.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR opened at $60.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $57.75 and a 200-day moving average of $54.57. Kroger has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $61.37. 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 company has a market cap of $43.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,036.44. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. This trade represents a 32.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KR. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kroger by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,562,000 after buying an additional 723,771 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Kroger by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,456,000 after buying an additional 917,923 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares in 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.