State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Sells 1,734 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System cut its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 659,333 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,734 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Kroger were worth $47,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Kroger by 1.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,299,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $967,863,000 after purchasing an additional 186,302 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 85.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,397,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,945,848 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,067,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,999,000 after acquiring an additional 31,477 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Kroger by 7.9% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,126,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,028,000 after acquiring an additional 300,784 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Kroger by 101.7% during the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $67.47 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $66.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.30. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $57.69 and a 52 week high of $74.90. The company has a market capitalization of $44.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.55.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 26th. Argus set a $85.00 target price on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.39.

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.