Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $1.10 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,045 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.88.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

Kroger stock opened at $66.77 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.43. 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 52-week low of $49.04 and a 52-week high of $68.51. The firm has a market cap of $48.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.66, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This represents a 34.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 223,244 shares of company stock valued at $15,001,418. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.