Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Acquires Shares of 9,409 The Kroger Co. $KR

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Aug 17th, 2026

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,409 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $470,561,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the second quarter valued at about $195,234,000. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 299.6% during the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 2,420,495 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,622,000 after acquiring an additional 1,814,721 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,445,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,754,000 after acquiring an additional 1,453,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 13,398,072 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,113,000 after purchasing an additional 1,360,946 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, June 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Kroger from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Kroger from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.00.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Kroger

Key Stories Impacting Kroger

Here are the key news stories impacting Kroger this week:

Positive Sentiment: Kroger appointed former Jet.com and Walmart executive Nate Faust as its first chief e-commerce officer. His mandate includes simplifying the digital business, improving supply-chain efficiency and strengthening online grocery fulfillment—initiatives that could improve growth and margins over time. What Could Kroger Gain From Its New Ecommerce Chief And Texas Fresh Push?
Positive Sentiment: BrightFarms expanded locally grown greenhouse greens into more than 1,000 Kroger stores in the Dallas area, giving the company additional fresh-produce offerings and a potential way to attract shoppers. Kroger is also planning a new Marketplace store in Northern Kentucky. Kroger Marketplace coming to NKY amid Publix threat
Neutral Sentiment: Kroger said it will hold its second-quarter 2026 earnings call on September 11. The announcement provides a date for investors to assess sales trends, traffic, e-commerce progress and the company’s outlook, but contains no new financial information. Kroger Announces Second Quarter Conference Call with Investors
Negative Sentiment: Reports indicate Kroger has closed at least 39 stores across nine banners and plans to shutter 60 locations as part of a nationwide overhaul. Closures may reduce near-term sales and highlight pressure on underperforming stores, even if they eventually lower costs. Major Supermarket Chain Closures
Negative Sentiment: Kroger’s customer traffic reportedly ranked 13th among 16 retailers in July and has been declining, raising concerns about market-share losses to Walmart, Publix and other competitors. Analysts and industry observers also described the company’s e-commerce operation as overly complex, increasing execution risk for the new digital chief. Kroger’s traffic has been declining
Negative Sentiment: A recall involving products sold at Kroger and other retailers over a salmonella outbreak adds a potential reputational and operational risk, although the reported information does not quantify any financial impact. Kroger Products Recalled Over Salmonella Outbreak

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock opened at $56.69 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $34.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.35, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.43. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $54.15 and a fifty-two week high of $76.58.

Kroger (NYSE:KR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 18th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.59 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $46.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.59 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 0.71% and a return on equity of 44.33%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.49 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.100-5.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 5.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This is a boost from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 91.76%.

Kroger Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.