California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 17,779 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

California State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,167,061 shares of the company’s stock after selling 17,779 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Kroger were worth $51,059,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,351,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,378,000 after acquiring an additional 66,660 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its position in Kroger by 24.0% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 3,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its position in Kroger by 4.4% during the third quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 79,875 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,495,000 after buying an additional 3,342 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Kroger by 5.6% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,243,734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,413,000 after buying an additional 65,429 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its position in Kroger by 4.1% during the third quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 23,335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after buying an additional 921 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 40,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,842,747.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 40,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,842,747.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Todd A. Foley sold 3,885 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.95, for a total transaction of $182,400.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 28,456 shares in the company, valued at $1,336,009.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,299 shares of company stock worth $5,124,089. Insiders own 1.35% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $47.13 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $41.81 and a 12-month high of $62.78. The company has a market cap of $33.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a PEG ratio of 1.73 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.89.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 2nd. MKM Partners reduced their price target on shares of Kroger from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price target on shares of Kroger from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 3rd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 6th. 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.25.

Kroger Profile

(Get Rating)

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.