Fidelis Capital Partners LLC Buys 1,042 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 16.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,298 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 370.1% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 430.8% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KR. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. 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. BNP Paribas reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock opened at $56.57 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $53.27 and a 200-day moving average of $47.83. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $40.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. 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.