The Kroger Co. $KR Shares Acquired by Huntington National Bank

Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,467 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,113 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Kroger were worth $4,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 64.2% in the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 5,618 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,197 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 13.9% in the 1st quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Kroger by 110.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 751,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,892,000 after purchasing an additional 395,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,655 shares of the company’s stock valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Roth Capital raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $82.00) on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.50.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock opened at $63.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.01. The company has a market capitalization of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.19, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.25 and a fifty-two week high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 35.53%.

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.