Insider Selling: The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) SVP Sells 3,000 Shares of Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Kroger Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of KR opened at $55.47 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.91. The company has a market cap of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. BMO Capital Markets raised Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Argus upped their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.36.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KR. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $252,000. Commerce Bank raised its position in Kroger by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 37,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after purchasing an additional 8,557 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth $477,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Kroger by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 360,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,491,000 after buying an additional 10,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 22.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 17,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $785,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.