Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 144,845 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 144,845 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $307,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Stock Down 1.1 %

Kroger stock opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $49.04 and a twelve month high of $66.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm 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 firm posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on KR shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

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.