Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys 9,714 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 93.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,093 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,714 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 255.6% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Kroger by 101.6% during the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 496 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Palisade Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 1st quarter worth $34,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on KR shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.09.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock opened at $55.91 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.69. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $58.34. The firm has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 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 return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a positive change from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.