Kroger (NYSE:KR) Downgraded to Buy Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on KR. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.93.

Kroger Trading Up 0.7 %

Kroger stock opened at $59.92 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. Kroger has a 52 week low of $44.48 and a 52 week high of $63.59. The company has a market capitalization of $43.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.44.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. The trade was a 18.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kroger

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Kroger by 11,570.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after buying an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Kroger by 6.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Kroger by 698.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after buying an additional 1,643,307 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

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.