Kroger price target raised to $83 from $75 at Jefferies

Jefferies raised the firm’s price target on Kroger (KR) to $83 from $75 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. Kroger posted “a solid Q1,” says the analyst, who came away incrementally positive on the go-forward outlook given management comments around increasing focus on the consumer and efficiency. Accelerated store openings, returning to closures of less efficient stores, review of non-core assets, reassessment of capital allocation strategies, and restructuring of e-commerce, all in the name of lowering price for consumers, highlight new management’s “desire to compete,” the analyst tells investors in a post-earnings note.