Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 98,543 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 908,255 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,543 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned 0.13% of Kroger worth $55,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its position in Kroger by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in Kroger by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in Kroger by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its position in Kroger by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 48,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,942,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on KR shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,131.04. The trade was a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total value of $86,723.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $806,523.90. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 212,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,282,348. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $64.69 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $49.04 and a one year high of $68.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is 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.