Brian W. Nichols Sells 1,300 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total transaction of $86,723.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,090 shares in the company, valued at $806,523.90. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Kroger Stock Down 0.7 %

KR opened at $65.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $47.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.99 and a 200 day moving average of $59.70. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $49.04 and a 12 month high of $68.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kroger

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Kroger by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after buying an additional 53,006 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kroger during the third quarter valued at $566,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth about $4,210,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.88.

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.