Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC Invests $108,000 in The Kroger Co. $KR

Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $108,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,945,848 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the 1st quarter worth about $178,385,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 101.7% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,059,574 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter valued at approximately $120,965,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Kroger by 80.7% during the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,185,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,768,000 after purchasing an additional 976,100 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Capital upgraded Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 26th. Argus set a $85.00 price objective on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Kroger from $75.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.39.

Kroger Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of KR opened at $67.08 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $57.69 and a 12 month high of $74.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $44.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.55.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted 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 business had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s 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.