V Square Quantitative Management LLC Acquires 2,653 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,125 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,653 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,536,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706,398 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 163.1% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,219,000 after buying an additional 857,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 569.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 812,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,538,000 after buying an additional 690,884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $65.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.15 and a 200-day moving average of $57.70. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $45.17 and a 12 month high of $66.18.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

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.