Insider Selling: The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) VP Sells $386,247.60 in Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $55.22 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $39.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.92. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Institutional Trading of Kroger

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KR. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the second quarter worth approximately $10,336,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth $6,524,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Kroger by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 18.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,882,000 after buying an additional 129,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Kroger by 82.2% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 59,949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday. 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.36.

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.