National Pension Service Grows Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,351,332 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 66,660 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.19% of Kroger worth $60,378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Tortoise Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1,377.3% in the third quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 1,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,033 shares during the period. Old North State Trust LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total transaction of $137,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 40,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,842,747.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.90, for a total value of $137,700.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 40,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,842,747.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 62,414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.47, for a total transaction of $2,900,378.58. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,079 shares in the company, valued at $2,931,281.13. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 112,299 shares of company stock valued at $5,124,089 over the last ninety days. 1.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $48.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $34.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $41.81 and a 12-month high of $62.78. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.89.

Kroger (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 2nd. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $34.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.89 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.51% and a return on equity of 31.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.88%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Stephens lowered their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Kroger from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, December 5th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.25.

Kroger Profile

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The Kroger Co engages in the operation of supermarkets and multi-department stores. Its brands include Big K, Check This Out?, Heritage Farm, Simple Truth, and Simple Truth Organic. The company was founded by Barney Kroger in 1883 and is headquartered in Cincinnati, OH.