Kroger (NYSE:KR) Issues FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Kroger (NYSE:KR) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 4.450- for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 4.450. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:KR opened at $64.81 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.65. Kroger has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $66.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Kroger will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.