First Horizon Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 32.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,726 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $170,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 208,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,309,000 after purchasing an additional 8,876 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Kroger by 31.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 159,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,077,000 after acquiring an additional 38,375 shares in the last quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in Kroger by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 146,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,567,000 after acquiring an additional 4,492 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Kroger by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 166,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,434,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 30,373 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.17.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total transaction of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,615,091.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total transaction of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,615,091.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR opened at $55.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $55.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.75. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34. The company has a market cap of $39.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Kroger 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.