Vestcor Inc Purchases 328 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Vestcor Inc boosted its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 400,891 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 328 shares during the quarter. Kroger makes up about 0.7% of Vestcor Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Vestcor Inc owned about 0.06% of Kroger worth $22,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Kroger by 96.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 698.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,307 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Down 2.4 %

Kroger stock opened at $57.78 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $43.51 and a 12 month high of $61.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.65. The company has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,715.40. This represents a 32.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 38,821 shares of company stock valued at $2,277,690. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KR. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.33.

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.