Royal Bank of Canada Has $130.11 Million Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,127,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 198,282 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.29% of Kroger worth $130,110,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Kroger by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 64,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after buying an additional 5,617 shares in the last quarter. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $409,000. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 122,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,495,000 after purchasing an additional 6,518 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in Kroger by 34.6% in the 4th quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 226,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,871,000 after acquiring an additional 58,356 shares during the period. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter worth $601,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total value of $1,872,355.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,521,599.82. The trade was a 34.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 334,923 shares of company stock valued at $22,867,124 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KR. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on Kroger in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.06.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $68.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $45.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.62. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.04 and a fifty-two week high of $73.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.55 and a 200-day moving average of $63.89.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.88%.

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.