Sei Investments Co. Sells 18,528 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Sei Investments Co. lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 913,550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 18,528 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.13% of Kroger worth $55,863,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KR. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 971,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,378,000 after purchasing an additional 74,781 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in Kroger by 46.5% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 63,084 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,858,000 after acquiring an additional 20,024 shares during the last quarter. ZEGA Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $515,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Mindset Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total value of $1,872,355.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. The trade was a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Gabriel Arreaga sold 15,959 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.63, for a total transaction of $1,047,389.17. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 89,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,846,648.55. This trade represents a 15.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 212,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,282,348. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.88.

Kroger Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:KR opened at $65.38 on Monday. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $49.04 and a one year high of $68.51. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

About Kroger

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.