Sirios Capital Management L P Takes $566,000 Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Sirios Capital Management L P bought a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 9,257 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 30.6% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 1,228 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 288 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Kroger by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,998 shares of the company's stock worth $1,773,000 after purchasing an additional 11,308 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC grew its position in Kroger by 8.4% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 18,070 shares of the company's stock worth $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 949,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,091,000 after buying an additional 12,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Altrinsic Global Advisors LLC now owns 238,442 shares of the company's stock worth $14,581,000 after buying an additional 2,687 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Melius downgraded Kroger from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $58.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $66.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. The trade was a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total value of $86,723.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $806,523.90. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 334,923 shares of company stock valued at $22,867,124. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR traded down $1.32 on Friday, reaching $70.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,847,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,531,521. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $49.04 and a twelve month high of $73.63. 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 firm's 50 day moving average is $66.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.31. The stock has a market cap of $46.28 billion, a PE ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.83%. Kroger's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Kroger Company 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.