TCTC Holdings LLC Purchases New Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in Kroger by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Kroger by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its stake in Kroger by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 48,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,942,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other 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 transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. The trade was a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $7,839,343.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 191,040 shares of company stock valued at $12,805,838. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $66.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.61. 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 Kroger Co. has a one year low of $49.04 and a one year high of $68.51. The company has a market cap of $48.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.