American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 134,062 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 19.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 826,022 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 134,062 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $41,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Kroger by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,380,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,115,000 after purchasing an additional 261,368 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in shares of Kroger by 82.2% during the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after buying an additional 59,949 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $671,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Argus boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.09.

Kroger Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE KR opened at $56.19 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $53.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market cap of $40.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $42.10 and a 12 month high of $58.34.

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

Kroger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the company’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 transaction, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $984,975.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.