The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Sold by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 847,993 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,635 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Kroger were worth $48,590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on KR shares. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.55.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR opened at $60.50 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.97 and a 1 year high of $61.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.48. 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $57.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.37.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid 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 yield of 2.12%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. This represents a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.