Bessemer Group Inc. Buys 213 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KRFree Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,545 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KR. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Kroger by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 18,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after buying an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.0% during the first quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 8,049 shares of the company’s stock valued at $545,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 24.1% during the fourth quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price target on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Melius raised Kroger from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Kroger from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up from $66.00) on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.00.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Kroger

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR opened at $71.74 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $49.74 and a 52-week high of $74.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.75. The firm has a market cap of $47.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KRGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, June 20th. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $45.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.35 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Yael Cosset sold 71,224 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $5,234,251.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 139,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,224,222.76. The trade was a 33.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 16,475 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.79, for a total value of $1,215,690.25. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 49,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,642,274.40. The trade was a 25.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 280,003 shares of company stock valued at $20,125,410. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Kroger (NYSE:KR)

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