Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. reduced its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 394,262 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,051 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $24,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after buying an additional 2,706,398 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 163.1% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,219,000 after buying an additional 857,008 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 569.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 812,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,538,000 after buying an additional 690,884 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $65.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. 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 Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $45.88 and a 52 week high of $66.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.75.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.