The Kroger Co. (KR) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 14th

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 3rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.32 per share on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

Kroger has increased its dividend by an average of 16.1% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Kroger has a dividend payout ratio of 25.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Kroger to earn $4.75 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 26.9%.

Kroger Trading Down 0.4 %

KR opened at $65.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Kroger has a fifty-two week low of $45.17 and a fifty-two week high of $65.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Kroger will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on KR. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Kroger

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.