Mackenzie Financial Corp Grows Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 378.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 765,445 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 605,591 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned 0.11% of Kroger worth $34,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,662,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,014,168,000 after purchasing an additional 498,995 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,640,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,872,000 after buying an additional 322,040 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,922,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,355,000 after buying an additional 535,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,833,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,551,000 after buying an additional 511,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after buying an additional 2,552,989 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE:KR opened at $55.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.69. The stock has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $42.10 and a 1-year high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 39.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on KR. BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

Kroger Company Profile

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.