Ieq Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 6.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,431 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,843 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in 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. increased its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kroger by 1.7% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $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 during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $65.03 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $61.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $46.96 and a 1-year high of $66.18.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued 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 net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction 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 $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.