Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Cuts Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 286,083 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,400 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Kroger were worth $17,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 163.1% in the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,219,000 after purchasing an additional 857,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 4,697.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 448,198 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,682,000 after purchasing an additional 438,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on KR shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR opened at $65.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $46.96 and a twelve month high of $66.18. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.23. The firm has a market cap of $47.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.