The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Stock Holdings Lessened by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 682,112 shares of the company’s stock after selling 27,453 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.09% of Kroger worth $41,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at $566,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on KR shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Down 0.7 %

KR opened at $65.20 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.75. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $45.88 and a twelve month high of $66.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market cap of $47.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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.