Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ Has $351,000 Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ cut its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 23.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,677 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,400 shares during the quarter. Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ’s holdings in Kroger were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,662,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,014,168,000 after buying an additional 498,995 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,640,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $671,872,000 after purchasing an additional 322,040 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Kroger by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,922,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,355,000 after purchasing an additional 535,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Kroger by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,833,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $350,551,000 after purchasing an additional 511,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Kroger by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,552,989 shares in 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 research firms recently issued reports on KR. Telsey Advisory Group upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.17.

Kroger Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:KR traded up $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $55.48. The stock had a trading volume of 841,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,938,850. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $52.84 and its 200 day moving average is $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The stock has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.19%.

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.