Kroger (NYSE:KR) Upgraded to Overweight by Wells Fargo & Company

Kroger (NYSE:KR) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $58.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 17.63% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on KR. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.17.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock opened at $55.26 on Tuesday. Kroger has a 12 month low of $42.10 and a 12 month high of $58.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $52.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.69. The company has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The business had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kroger will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KR. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. SouthState Corp increased its stake in Kroger by 334.3% in the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 370.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. 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.