Natixis Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in The Kroger Co. $KR

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC cut its Kroger stake by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 43,792 shares and leaving it with 453,599 shares valued at about $28.3 million.
• Wall Street remains mostly optimistic on Kroger, with nine analysts rating it a Buy and eight a Hold; the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $74.73.
• Kroger recently beat earnings expectations with EPS of $1.28, and it also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, though its payout ratio is relatively high at 91.5%.

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 453,599 shares of the company's stock after selling 43,792 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.07% of Kroger worth $28,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 17,995 shares of the company's stock worth $1,124,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.0% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,568 shares of the company's stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 15,756 shares of the company's stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 17.4% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,328 shares of the company's stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,904 shares of the company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kroger from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Wolfe Research reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.73.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $62.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $58.60 and a 1-year high of $76.58. The company has a market capitalization of $38.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $67.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.65.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.08. Kroger had a net margin of 0.69% and a return on equity of 41.08%. The business had revenue of $34.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 5.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 15th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Kroger's payout ratio is currently 91.50%.

Key Kroger News

Here are the key news stories impacting Kroger this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Kroger launched a limited-time All-American Ice Cream Collection and is giving away 100,000 free pints for the summer solstice, a marketing push that could lift store traffic and highlight the strength of its private-label business. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced a groundbreaking for a new store in Nicholasville, Kentucky, signaling ongoing footprint expansion and investment in growth markets. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Kroger’s CEO said the “basket has to come down” as the chain plans major price cuts to compete more aggressively with Walmart and Costco. That could help traffic, but it also points to margin pressure if discounts are broad-based. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Kroger is also rolling out digital price tags across nearly all local stores, a technology upgrade that could improve pricing efficiency but has drawn some controversy from shoppers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also digesting reports that Kroger agreed to a multimillion-dollar federal settlement tied to refrigerant and Clean Air Act issues, including spending about $100 million on refrigerator fixes plus a fine, which could pressure near-term earnings. Article Title

Kroger Company Profile

The Kroger Co NYSE: KR is one of the largest supermarket operators in the United States, offering a wide range of retail grocery and related services. Founded in Cincinnati in 1883 by Bernard Kroger, the company operates a portfolio of supermarket and multi-department store banners and provides customers with fresh foods, packaged groceries, deli and bakery items, meat and seafood, produce, and prepared foods. Kroger's stores commonly include pharmacy services and fuel centers, positioning the company as a broad-based neighborhood retail destination for everyday needs.

In addition to traditional in-store retailing, Kroger manufactures and distributes a variety of private-label brands and operates its own food production and supply-chain facilities.

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