Korea Investment CORP Increases Stock Position in The Kroger Co. $KR

Key Points

Error: Response status code does not indicate success: 429 (Too Many Requests).

Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 7.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 618,708 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 44,704 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned about 0.09% of Kroger worth $41,880,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 3,373 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 30,563 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,869,000 after buying an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 9,353 shares of the company's stock valued at $572,000 after buying an additional 1,511 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 176,132 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,770,000 after buying an additional 3,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 57,463 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,514,000 after buying an additional 7,344 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, July 21st. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Melius raised shares of Kroger from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Kroger and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.58.

Kroger Stock Down 2.8%

KR stock traded down $1.9870 during trading on Friday, reaching $69.4330. The stock had a trading volume of 6,981,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,605,369. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $50.69 and a one year high of $74.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92. The company's 50 day moving average is $70.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.56. The company has a market capitalization of $45.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.45 by $0.04. Kroger had a net margin of 1.89% and a return on equity of 34.71%. The firm had revenue of $45.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 EPS. The company's revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.600-4.800 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Kroger's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Kroger's payout ratio is currently 38.15%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mary Ellen Adcock sold 34,250 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.16, for a total transaction of $2,437,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 184,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,127,098.68. This represents a 15.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Yael Cosset sold 71,224 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.49, for a total transaction of $5,234,251.76. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 139,124 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,224,222.76. This represents a 33.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 198,948 shares of company stock worth $14,422,926. 0.44% of the stock is owned by 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.