WINTON GROUP Ltd Sells 30,484 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

WINTON GROUP Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,819 shares of the company’s stock after selling 30,484 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,786,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,087,276,000 after buying an additional 1,123,427 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,453,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,653,000 after buying an additional 214,852 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,863,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,610,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $230,210,000 after buying an additional 11,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maj Invest Holding A S boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 35.1% in the 2nd quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 4,395,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,456,000 after buying an additional 1,141,029 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, September 9th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.09.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR opened at $55.91 on Monday. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $58.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.36 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.69.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.