New York Life Investment Management LLC Acquires 496 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,998 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $6,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Kroger by 11,570.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706,398 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kroger by 6.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in 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 valued at $204,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in Kroger by 163.1% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,219,000 after acquiring an additional 857,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in Kroger during the third quarter valued at approximately $20,941,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were 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 directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock opened at $64.81 on Friday. 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 Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $48.21 and a 52 week high of $66.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.08 and its 200 day moving average is $58.57. The firm has a market cap of $46.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on KR. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim boosted 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

About Kroger

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.