Victory Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) by 29.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 500,036 shares of the company’s stock after selling 209,262 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $22,317,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,265,986 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,555,388,000 after acquiring an additional 438,869 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Kroger by 5.5% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 65,735,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,875,933,000 after buying an additional 3,443,687 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kroger by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,573,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $515,941,000 after buying an additional 90,212 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Kroger by 1.0% in the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 11,046,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,281,000 after buying an additional 105,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kroger by 2.7% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,437,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $254,553,000 after buying an additional 118,720 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total value of $1,102,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,956 shares in the company, valued at $9,348,140.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.95, for a total transaction of $1,102,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 194,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,348,140.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,000 shares of the 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 owns 40,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,842,747.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,505 shares of company stock worth $9,622,597 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on KR shares. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Stephens lowered their price objective on Kroger from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 6th. Northcoast Research raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Kroger from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Kroger in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.31.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $49.64 on Monday. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $41.81 and a 12-month high of $53.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Kroger (NYSE:KR – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $34.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.89 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.84% and a net margin of 1.51%. The business’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 company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a $0.26 dividend. 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 2.10%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.88%.

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.