Yael Cosset Sells 17,685 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Stock

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) SVP Yael Cosset sold 17,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.19, for a total transaction of $1,170,570.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,208,617.56. This represents a 11.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Yael Cosset also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 10th, Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of Kroger stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $7,839,343.92.

Kroger Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $65.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.99 and a 200-day moving average of $59.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $47.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.44, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $68.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.88%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kroger

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,223,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,027,979,000 after buying an additional 773,182 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,436,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,002,479,000 after acquiring an additional 416,962 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kroger by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,113,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $863,060,000 after acquiring an additional 120,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $598,390,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.88.

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.