Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Increases Position in The Kroger Co. $KR

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 383.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,209 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,856 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,093,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the second quarter worth $518,267,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Kroger by 66.6% in the third quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 5,255,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,245,000 after purchasing an additional 2,100,444 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Kroger by 6.0% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,680,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $311,843,000 after buying an additional 265,127 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Kroger by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,309,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,476,000 after buying an additional 41,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Kroger by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,126,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,028,000 after buying an additional 300,784 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Kroger and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday. Barclays reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $67.00 price objective on Kroger and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.07.

Kroger Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $71.17 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $58.60 and a twelve month high of $74.90. The stock has a market cap of $45.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $63.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.17.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 38.06% and a net margin of 0.54%.The company had revenue of $33.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.750-4.800 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 129.63%.

Kroger Company Profile

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.