Telsey Advisory Group Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for Kroger (NYSE:KR)

Kroger (NYSE:KR)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Telsey Advisory Group in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $62.00 target price on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.16% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Melius Research initiated coverage on Kroger in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.36.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $56.28. The company had a trading volume of 567,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,888,488. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. Kroger has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,036.44. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 14,932 shares of company stock valued at $830,303. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Maj Invest Holding A S purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at $185,913,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Kroger by 698.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Kroger by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,456,000 after acquiring an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 723,771 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kroger Company Profile

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.