Assetmark Inc. Purchases 9,515 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 239.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,481 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,515 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in Kroger were worth $824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KR. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company's stock valued at $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company's stock worth $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,035,732 shares of the company's stock worth $307,935,000 after purchasing an additional 144,845 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company's stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $66.88.

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Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $66.56 on Wednesday. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $68.51. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $48.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.25.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 292,813 shares of company stock valued at $19,131,375. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.

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