Court Place Advisors LLC Has $239,000 Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Court Place Advisors LLC cut its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,224 shares of the company’s stock after selling 394 shares during the quarter. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,126,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Kroger by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after buying an additional 2,552,989 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the first quarter worth $71,410,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Kroger during the third quarter valued at about $42,220,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its position in Kroger by 32.3% during the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 3,826,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,890,000 after purchasing an additional 933,009 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger Stock Down 0.0 %

Kroger stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.26. 4,193,279 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,995,096. The company has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $52.63 and a 200-day moving average of $47.63.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on KR. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, BNP Paribas restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

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.