Bridgefront Capital LLC Purchases 7,053 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Bridgefront Capital LLC lifted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 119.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,971 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,053 shares during the period. Bridgefront Capital LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $793,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter worth $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Kroger during the third quarter valued at about $566,000. Avanza Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $4,210,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the third 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock opened at $72.87 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $73.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Melius cut Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kroger from $72.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total value of $86,723.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $806,523.90. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 4,492 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.53, for a total value of $298,852.76. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,480 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $231,524.40. The trade was a 56.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 334,923 shares of company stock worth $22,867,124 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.