Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 393,869 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,426 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Kroger worth $24,085,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Kroger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Kroger by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,935,000 after purchasing an additional 144,845 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KR. Citigroup upped their price target on Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 29,554 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.56, for a total transaction of $1,967,114.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 103,092 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,861,803.52. This trade represents a 22.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total value of $86,723.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $806,523.90. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 191,040 shares of company stock valued at $12,805,838 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kroger Trading Up 2.0 %

Kroger stock opened at $66.40 on Tuesday. 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 $49.04 and a 52 week high of $68.51. The company has a market capitalization of $48.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.61.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.