Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 731,970 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,736 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.10% of Kroger worth $36,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 12,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 859 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $183,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 10,432 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 160,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,349,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $232,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total transaction of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.09.

Kroger Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $55.91 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.66. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is a boost from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.