Argentarii LLC Purchases Shares of 3,982 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Argentarii LLC acquired a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,982 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after acquiring an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after buying an additional 37,222 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,935,000 after buying an additional 144,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 169,559 shares of company stock worth $10,587,476. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of KR opened at $66.81 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $62.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $48.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.04 and a fifty-two week high of $67.57.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded 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 Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

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.