The Kroger Co. $KR Shares Acquired by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 88.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,357 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,459 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $498,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 46.7% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Kroger during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Melius Research raised shares of Kroger from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $66.00) on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.58.

Kroger Stock Up 1.7%

NYSE KR opened at $68.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.89. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $54.51 and a 12 month high of $74.90. The company has a market capitalization of $45.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 32.62%. The business had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 35.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mary Ellen Adcock sold 34,250 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.16, for a total value of $2,437,230.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 184,473 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,127,098.68. This trade represents a 15.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 26,814 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.50, for a total transaction of $1,890,387.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 99,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,989,581.50. This trade represents a 21.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 198,948 shares of company stock valued at $14,422,926 over the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.