Amundi Cuts Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. $KR

Amundi reduced its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,772,559 shares of the company’s stock after selling 108,904 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Kroger were worth $262,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Kroger in the second quarter valued at $518,267,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 85.3% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,397,771 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,065,000 after acquiring an additional 2,945,848 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 1st quarter valued at about $178,385,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 101.7% in the 1st quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 4,084,584 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,485,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth about $120,965,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on KR shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm upgraded Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Argus set a $85.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Kroger and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.61.

Kroger Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $62.76 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 58.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.28. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $57.69 and a 12-month high of $74.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.43 and a 200 day moving average of $68.21.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 4th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.27 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 38.06%. The business’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.98 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.750-4.800 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. 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.