Kroger (NYSE:KR) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $64.82, but opened at $62.80. Kroger shares last traded at $63.79, with a volume of 1,483,291 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $45.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kroger by 0.9% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 2.6% during the 4th 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Kroger by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,113,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,060,000 after buying an additional 120,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $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.