13,105 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Bought by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 13,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $801,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,486,131.04. This trade represents a 45.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This trade represents a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 258,785 shares of company stock worth $17,476,866 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Roth Capital set a $58.00 target price on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.50.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $68.26 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $49.04 and a twelve month high of $71.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market cap of $45.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.33.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

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.