18,200 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Bought by Board of the Pension Protection Fund

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 18,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,113,000. Kroger makes up approximately 1.3% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after acquiring an additional 53,006 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 1.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after acquiring an additional 36,083 shares during the period. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,336,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the third quarter worth approximately $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim initiated coverage on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.93.

Kroger Stock Up 0.7 %

Kroger stock opened at $59.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a market capitalization of $43.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.44. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $44.48 and a twelve month high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kroger 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.