Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Invests $730,000 in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,933 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $730,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on KR shares. Melius upgraded shares of Kroger from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $70.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Melius Research cut shares of Kroger from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.06.

Kroger Stock Up 0.8%

KR traded up $0.53 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.49. The company had a trading volume of 6,526,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,680,400. The company has a market cap of $45.93 billion, a PE ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50-day moving average of $68.63 and a 200-day moving average of $63.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $73.63.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Kroger's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,861 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This represents a 34.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 45.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 334,923 shares of company stock valued at $22,867,124. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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.