Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Makes New Investment in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,756 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company's stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 17.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 403,875 shares of the company's stock worth $24,697,000 after buying an additional 60,804 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 43,778 shares of the company's stock worth $2,677,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 121,065 shares of the company's stock worth $7,403,000 after buying an additional 1,645 shares during 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 brokerages have recently commented on KR. Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 price target on Kroger and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Kroger from $76.00 to $75.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 17th. Melius Research upgraded Kroger from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Kroger from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $83.00 target price on Kroger and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.16.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 16,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.79, for a total value of $1,215,690.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 49,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,642,274.40. This trade represents a 25.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 3,810 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total value of $272,834.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 85,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,147,718.50. This represents a 4.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 198,948 shares of company stock valued at $14,422,926 in the last 90 days. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE:KR traded up $0.96 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.06. The company had a trading volume of 3,105,797 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,098,715. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $69.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.28. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $50.69 and a one year high of $74.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last announced 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 return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company had revenue of $45.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.35 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

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

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.