Park Avenue Securities LLC Has $2.02 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 32.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,075 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,045 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Kroger were worth $2,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company's stock worth $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company's stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 6.8% during the third 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. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Kroger by 698.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company's stock worth $93,792,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,307 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Guggenheim assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $65.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % 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, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock traded down $0.28 on Friday, reaching $58.34. 5,510,181 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,451,751. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $60.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.57. The stock has a market cap of $42.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $44.48 and a twelve month high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Kroger's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.