Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Has $204.83 Million Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.49% of Kroger worth $204,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Kroger by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after purchasing an additional 723,771 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,456,000 after purchasing an additional 917,923 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 8.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,279,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,543,000 after buying an additional 407,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at $784,715.40. This represents a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Trading Up 1.0 %

KR stock opened at $61.08 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $57.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.41. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.97 and a fifty-two week high of $61.18. The firm has a market cap of $44.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.55.

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.