The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Declares $0.32 Quarterly Dividend

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.32 per share on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th.

Kroger has increased its dividend payment by an average of 17.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 19 years. Kroger has a payout ratio of 27.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Kroger to earn $4.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

Kroger Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of KR opened at $59.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $43.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $60.35. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.04 and a 200 day moving average of $54.03.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on KR shares. Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at $784,715.40. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.