First Hawaiian Bank Takes Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,653 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $383,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Kroger from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Melius Research raised shares of Kroger from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an "outperform" rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.06.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $66.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,653,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,734,630. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $49.04 and a 12 month high of $73.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.58. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $69.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.72.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. Analysts forecast 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 Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Kroger's payout ratio is 34.88%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total transaction of $86,723.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $806,523.90. The trade was a 9.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,131.04. The trade was a 45.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 334,923 shares of company stock worth $22,867,124. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.