The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Purchased by Meeder Advisory Services Inc.

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 39.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,645 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,731 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Kroger by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,380,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,115,000 after purchasing an additional 261,368 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,882,000 after purchasing an additional 129,873 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its stake in Kroger by 82.2% in the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after buying an additional 59,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new stake in Kroger during the 4th quarter worth about $671,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $55.91 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a PEG 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

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

Kroger Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.