River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 342,525 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

River Road Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,719,776 shares of the company’s stock after selling 342,525 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.24% of Kroger worth $78,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $156,126,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,552,989 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the first quarter worth about $71,410,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the third quarter worth about $42,220,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 32.3% in the first quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 3,826,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $188,890,000 after purchasing an additional 933,009 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.26. 4,193,279 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,970,706. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $42.10 and a one year high of $58.34. The stock has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.63.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The business had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 39.19%.

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.