Maverick Capital Ltd. Buys Shares of 7,258 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $416,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mendel Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M3 Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on KR shares. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.60.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $61.08 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.97 and a 52 week high of $61.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $57.42 and its 200 day moving average is $54.41.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.96 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,715.40. This trade represents a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 over the last 90 days. 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.