The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Declares $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 31st,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%.

Kroger has raised its dividend payment by an average of 16.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Kroger has a dividend payout ratio of 25.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Kroger to earn $4.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.9%.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of KR traded up $0.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $61.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,468,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,157,019. Kroger has a 12-month low of $44.48 and a 12-month high of $63.59. The stock has a market cap of $44.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.38 and its 200 day moving average is $57.02.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % 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. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.80.

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.