Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Sells 513,318 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. reduced its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 38.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 813,963 shares of the company's stock after selling 513,318 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.11% of Kroger worth $49,774,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on KR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price objective on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE:KR traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $70.03. 8,847,089 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,539,797. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.78 and a 200 day moving average of $62.40. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $73.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $46.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. Kroger's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Christine S. Wheatley sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $2,162,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 97,737 shares in the company, valued at $7,043,905.59. This represents a 23.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total value of $1,872,355.10. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 334,923 shares of company stock worth $22,867,124 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.