Kroger (NYSE:KR) Updates FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Kroger (NYSE:KR) updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 4.600-4.800 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 4.810. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KR. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $65.28 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $62.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.22, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. Kroger has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $66.26.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. Analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. The trade was a 18.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Kroger stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,733 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting 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.