Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lessened its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 30.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 341,810 shares of the company’s stock after selling 148,833 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $20,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KR. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.50.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE:KR opened at $67.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $64.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.83. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $71.93. The firm has a market cap of $48.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated 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 reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In related news, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.37, for a total transaction of $719,070.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 127,106 shares in the company, valued at $8,308,919.22. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total value of $86,723.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $806,523.90. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 228,785 shares of company stock valued at $15,393,666 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.