CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Sells 57,335 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lessened its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 4.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,121,517 shares of the company's stock after selling 57,335 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.15% of Kroger worth $68,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Kroger by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,791,804 shares of the company's stock worth $109,569,000 after acquiring an additional 40,399 shares in the last quarter. Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $618,000. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in Kroger by 5,326.4% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 349,839 shares of the company's stock worth $21,393,000 after purchasing an additional 343,392 shares in the last quarter. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth about $247,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $288,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KR shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Roth Capital set a $58.00 price objective on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $66.50.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE:KR traded up $1.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $72.44. 9,373,282 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,440,709. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.84. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $49.04 and a twelve month high of $72.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during 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%. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger's payout ratio is presently 34.88%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 11,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Friday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.37, for a total transaction of $719,070.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 127,106 shares in the company, valued at $8,308,919.22. This represents a 7.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 290,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,637,066. 1.40% 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.