Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires New Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,121,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,581,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.15% of Kroger as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,935,000 after purchasing an additional 144,845 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 169,559 shares of company stock valued at $10,587,476 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Kroger Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $66.81 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $67.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.27 and a 200 day moving average of $59.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 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.