Guggenheim Issues Positive Forecast for Kroger (NYSE:KR) Stock Price

Kroger (NYSE:KR) had its price target boosted by Guggenheim from $61.00 to $63.00 in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Four equities 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 MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.55.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $60.52 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.33. 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 $43.79 billion, a PE ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.48. Kroger has a 12 month low of $42.97 and a 12 month high of $61.18.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 EPS. Kroger’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,743.01. This represents a 5.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Kroger by 6.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $914,795,000 after acquiring an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Kroger by 5.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after purchasing an additional 723,771 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

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.