Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 34,824 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 506,938 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 34,824 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Kroger worth $34,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 89.9% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 847 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 25.7% in the first quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 15,439 shares of the company's stock worth $1,045,000 after buying an additional 3,158 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its holdings in Kroger by 16,000.0% during the 1st quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 3,220 shares of the company's stock valued at $218,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its position in Kroger by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 942,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $63,765,000 after buying an additional 147,864 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. bought a new stake in Kroger in the 1st quarter worth $679,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 16,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.79, for a total transaction of $1,215,690.25. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 49,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,642,274.40. This represents a 25.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Timothy A. Massa sold 8,415 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $622,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 118,761 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,788,314. The trade was a 6.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 198,948 shares of company stock valued at $14,422,926 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 target price on shares of Kroger and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $82.00 price target (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Kroger from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.16.

Kroger Stock Up 1.9%

KR stock traded up $1.32 on Friday, reaching $71.42. 6,887,648 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,835,809. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.36. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $50.69 and a one year high of $74.11. The company has a market cap of $47.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.04. Kroger had a return on equity of 34.71% and a net margin of 1.89%. The firm had revenue of $45.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. This is an increase from Kroger's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Kroger's payout ratio is 34.88%.

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.