Toroso Investments LLC Acquires 5,401 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Posted by MarketBeat News on Mar 17th, 2023

Toroso Investments LLC raised its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,710 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 5,401 shares during the quarter. Toroso Investments LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in KR. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 65,735,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,875,933,000 after purchasing an additional 3,443,687 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 160.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,114,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,919,463 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter worth about $71,410,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Kroger by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,522,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $545,344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Kroger by 403.7% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,180,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,662,000 after acquiring an additional 946,412 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on KR. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Monday, December 5th. Telsey Advisory Group decreased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Stephens decreased 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

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In related news, VP Todd A. Foley sold 3,885 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.95, for a total transaction of $182,400.75. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 28,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,336,009.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 62,414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,931,281.13. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Todd A. Foley sold 3,885 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.95, for a total transaction of $182,400.75. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 28,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,336,009.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 112,299 shares of company stock valued at $5,124,089. 1.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $47.13 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.81 and a fifty-two week high of $62.78.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.88%.

About Kroger

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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.