Insider Selling: The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) VP Sells 3,929 Shares of Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Kroger Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE KR traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,799,247 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,923,953. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.05.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,786,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,087,276,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123,427 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Kroger by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,453,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,653,000 after purchasing an additional 214,852 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,592,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,546,000 after buying an additional 503,839 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Kroger by 7.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,833,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,551,000 after buying an additional 511,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth approximately $229,863,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

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.