OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Sells 4,958 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd cut its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 31.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,608 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,958 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Kroger were worth $661,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kroger by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after acquiring an additional 53,006 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the third quarter valued at about $566,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,210,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $64.69 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, 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 $68.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

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

Insider Activity at Kroger

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Gabriel Arreaga sold 15,959 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.63, for a total transaction of $1,047,389.17. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 89,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,846,648.55. This represents a 15.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 212,244 shares of company stock worth $14,282,348 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Company 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.