US Bancorp DE Boosts Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 644,105 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned about 0.09% of Kroger worth $29,442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 334.3% in the 4th quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 595 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Kroger by 370.1% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 613.0% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 820 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the period. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Field & Main Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $832,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 77,696 shares in the company, valued at $4,313,681.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on KR. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.99. 6,276,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,995,606. The business’s 50-day moving average is $55.69 and its 200-day moving average is $49.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.24 billion, a PE ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.49. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

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.