Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $1.83 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 40,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,828,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.3% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,662,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,014,168,000 after purchasing an additional 498,995 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.4% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,640,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $671,872,000 after purchasing an additional 322,040 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,922,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,355,000 after buying an additional 535,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 7.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,833,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,551,000 after buying an additional 511,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake 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 valued at $252,642,000 after buying an additional 2,552,989 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Kroger Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $55.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $53.05 and a 200-day moving average of $47.74. The stock has a market cap of $40.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.19%.

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.