Why The Kroger Co. (KR) Continues to Shine Among Leading Food Dividend Stocks

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is included among the 14 Best Food Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Analysts.

The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is one of the biggest grocery chains in the US, with 2,731 stores and annual sales approaching $150 billion. It isn’t a fast-growing company, and profits aren’t huge, as this year, revenue is expected to rise just around 3%, translating to operating income of under $5 billion. This shows that the grocery business is a crowded market with slim margins.

For investors, though, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) offers value in other ways. Its quarterly dividend has grown roughly 250% over the last decade, and the company has been buying back shares, cutting the number of outstanding shares nearly in half. That combination has made a big difference for shareholders. In fact, if someone had reinvested Kroger’s dividends over the past 30 years, buying more shares as they became available, their returns would have outpaced the broader market over the same period.

On September 18, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) announced a quarterly dividend $0.35 per share, which was consistent with its previous dividend. Overall, the company has been rewarding its investors with 19 consecutive years of dividend growth. The stock’s dividend yield came in at 2.11%, as of October 5.

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Disclosure: None.