Fisher Asset Management LLC Buys 6,491 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 38.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,297 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,491 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.82. The stock has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $66.26.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.86%.

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.