Toronto Dominion Bank Has $16.38 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Toronto Dominion Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 12.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 327,979 shares of the company’s stock after selling 47,644 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Kroger were worth $16,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KR. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Kroger by 60.9% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 131,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,556,000 after buying an additional 49,704 shares in the last quarter. Distillate Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Kroger during the second quarter worth about $17,396,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 698.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after buying an additional 1,643,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 95.2% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 11,491 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on KR shares. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock 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 issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,036.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,010 shares of company stock valued at $444,056 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kroger Trading Down 2.0 %

KR opened at $55.47 on Friday. 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 market cap of $40.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.91.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

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.