Natixis Acquires 29,400 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

Natixis lifted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 40.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 102,809 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,400 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Kroger were worth $7,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KR. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 6,840.0% in the second quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in Kroger in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Kroger by 10,425.0% in the 2nd quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 87.8% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 445 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Roth Capital upgraded Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Evercore ISI set a $77.00 price objective on Kroger and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus set a $85.00 target price on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.39.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR stock opened at $62.84 on Wednesday. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $57.81 and a 1 year high of $74.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $66.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.13. The company has a market cap of $41.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $33.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.750-4.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 129.63%.

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.