Teacher Retirement System of Texas Purchases 172,924 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 49.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 521,652 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 172,924 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Kroger were worth $37,418,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11.7% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 10,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $720,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 12,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $850,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.4% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 23,332 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,579,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.7% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $68.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $55.60 and a 1-year high of $74.90. The company has a market capitalization of $45.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.19.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Roth Mkm upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 target price (down from $82.00) on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.50.

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.