BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 16,882 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 114,421 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,882 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Kroger were worth $6,556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KR. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Kroger by 5.7% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 123,297 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,044,000 after buying an additional 6,640 shares during the period. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 31.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 22,146 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 5,330 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank grew its holdings in Kroger by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 6,412 shares of the company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS raised its position in Kroger by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 114,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,741,000 after purchasing an additional 10,739 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Kroger by 38.3% in the second quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. This trade represents a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE KR opened at $60.16 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $43.51 and a one year high of $61.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $43.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.45.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. Kroger’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on KR. BNP Paribas began coverage on Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

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.