The Kroger Co. $KR Shares Acquired by Precedent Wealth Partners LLC

Precedent Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 14.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,134 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,420 shares during the quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,299,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $967,863,000 after purchasing an additional 186,302 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Kroger by 85.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,397,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $433,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,945,848 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,067,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,999,000 after acquiring an additional 31,477 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its stake in Kroger by 101.7% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at about $178,385,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on KR. Jefferies Financial Group set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Kroger and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Argus set a $85.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Kroger and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 26,814 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.50, for a total transaction of $1,890,387.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 99,143 shares in the company, valued at $6,989,581.50. This represents a 21.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE:KR opened at $66.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $68.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.98. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $54.88 and a 12-month high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 32.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.53%.

Kroger Company 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.