Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Sells 15,939 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. cut its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 82.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,353 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,939 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 9.4% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 39,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,824,000 after buying an additional 3,380 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in Kroger by 6.0% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 16,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Kroger by 1.4% during the second quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 463,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,255,000 after purchasing an additional 6,528 shares during the period. Mid American Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Kroger during the second quarter worth $46,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Kroger by 1.3% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,954,861 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,524,000 after purchasing an additional 25,729 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, July 21st. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 18th. Roth Mkm raised shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.50.

Kroger Stock Up 0.1%

KR opened at $68.68 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.60 and a fifty-two week high of $74.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $45.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.77 and a 200-day moving average of $69.12.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The company had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 35.53%.

About Kroger

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.