Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Kroger (NYSE:KR) to Overweight

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wells Fargo & Company from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $65.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $58.00. Wells Fargo & Company's target price points to a potential upside of 17.63% from the stock's current price.

KR has been the subject of several other reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, BNP Paribas reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of KR traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.26. 6,182,722 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,994,512. The company has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a PE ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.48. Kroger has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Kroger will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kroger

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4,810.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,829 shares of the company's stock worth $25,955,000 after buying an additional 556,266 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company's stock worth $12,715,000 after buying an additional 11,707 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 49.3% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 115,411 shares of the company's stock worth $5,165,000 after buying an additional 38,119 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 239.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 168,019 shares of the company's stock worth $7,519,000 after buying an additional 118,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,647,862 shares of the company's stock worth $75,175,000 after buying an additional 115,264 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company's stock.

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.