Kroger (NYSE:KR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on KR. Melius upgraded shares of Kroger from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.47.

Kroger Trading Up 2.8%

KR opened at $73.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.89 billion, a PE ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.59. Kroger has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $74.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.37.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $45.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.35 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.43 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, EVP Christine S. Wheatley sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.44, for a total transaction of $2,083,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 127,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,870,057.28. This trade represents a 19.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 5,541 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.79, for a total transaction of $392,247.39. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,480 shares in the company, valued at $246,349.20. This trade represents a 61.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 111,679 shares of company stock valued at $7,865,706 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.