Farringdon Capital Ltd. Takes $618,000 Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Farringdon Capital Ltd. bought a new position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at $566,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,210,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Kroger by 0.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after acquiring an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $69.07 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $45.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $65.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.56. 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 Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $71.93.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.85%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 34.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.50.

Insider Activity

In other Kroger news, EVP Christine S. Wheatley sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.44, for a total value of $2,083,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 127,737 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,870,057.28. This trade represents a 19.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This trade represents a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 258,785 shares of company stock valued at $17,476,866. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.