Kroger (KR) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

The Kroger Co. is a U.S.-based food and consumer goods retailer headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1883 by Bernard Kroger, the company has grown into one of the largest supermarket operators in the United States.

Kroger operates supermarkets, multi-department stores, marketplace-format stores, pharmacies and fuel centers. Its stores sell groceries, fresh produce, meat, seafood, bakery and deli products, household essentials, health and beauty items, and general merchandise. The company also offers digital shopping, pickup and delivery services, loyalty programs, and a range of private-label products.

The company serves customers across numerous U.S. states through banners that include Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Smith’s, Fry’s, Dillons, QFC and Harris Teeter. Kroger also operates food production facilities that manufacture select private-label products. Its business is focused primarily on the U.S. grocery and retail market.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $60.80 to $61.65
• 50-Day Range: $55.98 to $62.21
• 52-Week Range: $54.15 to $76.58
• Volume: 5.29 million shs
• Average Volume: 8.24 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $36.37 billion
• P/E Ratio: 33.47
• Dividend Yield: 2.53%
• Price Target: $69.82
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Kroger Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Kroger scored higher than 77% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 53rd out of 169 stocks in the consumer staples sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Kroger has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.57, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 12 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Kroger has a consensus price target of $69.82, representing about 13.4% upside from its current price of $61.59.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Kroger has been the subject of 8 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.3 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 6.94%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Kroger are expected to grow by 6.94% in the coming year, from $5.19 to $5.55 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Kroger is 33.47, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.05.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Kroger is 33.47, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Staples sector average P/E ratio of about 13.78.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Kroger has a PEG Ratio of 1.69. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Kroger has a P/B Ratio of 6.57. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

5.33% of the float of Kroger has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Kroger has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.55, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Kroger has recently increased by 5.77%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Kroger pays a meaningful dividend of 2.53%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Kroger has been increasing its dividend for 19 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Kroger is 84.78%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Kroger will have a dividend payout ratio of 28.11% next year. This indicates that Kroger will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.2 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.19

News Sentiment

Kroger has a news sentiment score of 0.19. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.57 average news sentiment score of Consumer Staples companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 26 news articles for Kroger this week, compared to 7 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

55 people have searched for KR on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 34% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

37 people have added Kroger to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 311% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Kroger insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $4,425,091.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.41% of the stock of Kroger is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

80.93% of the stock of Kroger is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/1 Dividend: 8/14/2026
• Record date for 9/1 Dividend: 8/15/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/01/2026
• Last Earnings: 9/11/2026
• Today: 10/12/2026
• Investor update: 10/20/2026
• Record date for 12/1 Dividend: 11/16/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 12/1 Dividend: 11/16/2026
• Dividend Payable: 12/01/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 12/03/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 1/31/2027

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Staples
• Industry: Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail
• Sub-Industry: Food Retail
• Current Symbol: NYSE:KR
• CIK: 56873
• Web: www.thekrogerco.com
• Phone: (513) 762-4000
• Fax: 513-762-1575
• Employees: 403,000
• Year Founded: 1883

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Kroger: $69.82
• High Price Target: $82.00
• Low Price Target: $57.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +13.4%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.57
• Research Coverage: 21 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $1.84
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 33.47
• Forward P/E Ratio: 11.87
• P/E Growth: 1.69
• Net Income: $1.02 billion
• Net Margins: 0.73%
• Pretax Margin: 0.90%
• Return on Equity: 49.90%
• Return on Assets: 6.28%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 2.59
• Current Ratio: 0.70
• Quick Ratio: 0.31

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $147.64 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.25
• Cash Flow: $11.24 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 5.48
• Book Value: $9.38 per share
• Price / Book: 6.57

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 590,590,000
• Free Float: 588,168,000
• Market Cap: $36.37 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.36