SG Americas Securities LLC Has $31.74 Million Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 71.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 519,039 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 216,586 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $31,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after buying an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Kroger by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after buying an additional 917,923 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after buying an additional 37,222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Kroger by 96.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on KR. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.14.

Kroger Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of KR opened at $58.78 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.72. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $44.48 and a 52 week high of $63.59. The firm has a market cap of $42.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.