The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, sixteen have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.40.
KR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of The Kroger from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 11th. Barclays lowered shares of The Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $31.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on The Kroger from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 27th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered shares of The Kroger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $39.00 in a report on Thursday, January 28th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of The Kroger from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 23rd.
In other news, Director Susan J. Kropf sold 13,000 shares of The Kroger stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.90, for a total value of $453,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 114,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,988,267.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Mark C. Tuffin sold 21,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $756,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 243,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,756,748. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 73,730 shares of company stock valued at $2,708,071 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.34% of the company’s stock.
KR traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $37.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 353,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,625,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day moving average is $34.96 and its 200-day moving average is $33.33. The Kroger has a 52 week low of $30.01 and a 52 week high of $42.99. The firm has a market cap of $28.00 billion, a PE ratio of 9.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.36.
The Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 3rd. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $30.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $30.79 billion. The Kroger had a net margin of 2.29% and a return on equity of 27.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 13th. The Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.73%.
The Kroger Company Profile
The Kroger Co operates as a 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.
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