Quadrature Capital Ltd Buys Shares of 19,532 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,532 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,115,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 255.6% in the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the period. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in Kroger by 334.3% during the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 595 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 101.6% in the 1st quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.64.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE KR traded up $0.96 on Friday, reaching $54.27. The stock had a trading volume of 2,552,485 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,410,368. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $52.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.97. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $39.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.45.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Kroger had a return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The firm had revenue of $45.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a $1.28 dividend. This is a boost from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 39.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total transaction of $109,060.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.