The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Sold by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC lowered its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 80.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,743 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,448 shares during the quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Kroger by 698.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after buying an additional 1,643,307 shares in the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 35.1% during the second quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 4,395,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,141,029 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 13.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after acquiring an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Kroger by 5.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after purchasing an additional 723,771 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on KR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.09.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $58.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market cap of $42.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.15. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $42.31 and a one year high of $60.35.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. This trade represents a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock valued at $721,243. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Kroger Company 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.