Kroger’s (KR) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Telsey Advisory Group

Telsey Advisory Group restated their outperform rating on shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) in a report released on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $82.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on KR. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.39.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR opened at $67.55 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $66.49 and its 200 day moving average is $68.32. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $57.69 and a fifty-two week high of $74.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $44.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.55.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The business had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.93 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 35.53%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kroger

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KR. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $476,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 35,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at $15,197,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its position in Kroger by 16.8% in the third quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 544,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,682,000 after purchasing an additional 78,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oarsman Capital Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 4.6% in the third quarter. Oarsman Capital Inc. now owns 43,348 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after purchasing an additional 1,926 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.