Brighton Jones LLC Has $1.20 Million Stake in The Kroger Co. $KR

Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 4.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,706 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 671 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Kroger by 85.3% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,397,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,945,848 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the first quarter valued at approximately $178,385,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its position in Kroger by 101.7% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Kroger during the second quarter valued at approximately $120,965,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its position in Kroger by 80.7% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,185,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,768,000 after acquiring an additional 976,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KR. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Roth Capital raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday, July 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.50.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $68.06 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.19. The company has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.57. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $55.60 and a 12 month high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.93 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 35.53%.

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.