Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Raises Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,189 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 936 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Kroger were worth $745,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. State Street Corp boosted its position in Kroger by 6.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Kroger by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after acquiring an additional 126,303 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Kroger by 0.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after acquiring an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Kroger by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,935,000 after acquiring an additional 144,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, March 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,131.04. The trade was a 45.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 160,186 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,001 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $65.01 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.29. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $68.51. 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 company has a market cap of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.