California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 44,868 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,960,544 shares of the company’s stock after selling 44,868 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.55% of Kroger worth $181,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 4,810.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,955,000 after purchasing an additional 556,266 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Kroger by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,715,000 after buying an additional 11,707 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 49.3% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 115,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,165,000 after purchasing an additional 38,119 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 156,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,380 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,647,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,175,000 after purchasing an additional 115,264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.56. 685,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,905,578. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $40.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.96.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. Kroger’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given 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 2.05%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 39.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on KR. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

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.