The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd trimmed its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,344,704 shares of the company’s stock after selling 14,911 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.19% of Kroger worth $61,466,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KR. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Kroger by 2.3% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,662,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,014,168,000 after acquiring an additional 498,995 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,640,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,872,000 after purchasing an additional 322,040 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,922,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,355,000 after purchasing an additional 535,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,833,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,551,000 after purchasing an additional 511,978 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after buying an additional 2,552,989 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KR shares. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group raised 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. BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Kroger Price Performance

KR traded up $0.07 on Thursday, hitting $55.33. 1,261,072 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,944,162. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $58.34. The stock has a market cap of $39.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

About Kroger

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.