Kroger (NYSE:KR) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Kroger (NYSE:KR) posted its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. Kroger updated its FY25 guidance to $4.35-4.45 EPS.

Kroger Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of KR traded down $1.02 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $58.89. The stock had a trading volume of 705,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,630,403. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.53. Kroger has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $61.18. 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 company has a market capitalization of $42.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In related news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on KR. Melius Research initiated coverage on Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Four investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.64.

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.