1,100 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Acquired by Intact Investment Management Inc.

Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Kroger by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,210,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE:KR opened at $65.12 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $49.04 and a 1 year high of $68.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.47. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,131.04. This trade represents a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 160,186 shares of company stock worth $10,752,001 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KR shares. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

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.