5,425 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Purchased by Polymer Capital Management US LLC

Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at about $566,000. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,210,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after buying an additional 37,222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KR. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.37, for a total value of $719,070.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 127,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,308,919.22. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christine S. Wheatley sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.44, for a total transaction of $2,083,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 127,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,870,057.28. This represents a 19.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,785 shares of company stock valued at $17,476,866 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Down 1.2 %

KR stock opened at $66.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $48.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $71.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.96.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its 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 return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. On average, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.