The Kroger Co. $KR Shares Sold by Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC

Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 18.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,521 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,942 shares during the quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Kroger by 85.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,397,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,065,000 after purchasing an additional 2,945,848 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $178,385,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 101.7% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,485,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Kroger in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $120,965,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 80.7% in the 2nd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,185,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,768,000 after purchasing an additional 976,100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $63.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $55.69 and a 1 year high of $74.90. The company has a market capitalization of $42.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $67.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.11.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 35.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on KR. Roth Capital raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down from $82.00) on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.50.

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.