Foundry Partners LLC Has $17.68 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Foundry Partners LLC raised its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 354,049 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,903 shares during the quarter. Kroger makes up about 0.9% of Foundry Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $17,678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Kroger by 1.4% in the first quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 13,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $826,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. W Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 32,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,878,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 4,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.64.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock traded down $0.77 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $52.60. The stock had a trading volume of 565,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,934,340. 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 Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.39.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The firm had revenue of $45.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.51 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This is a positive change from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In related news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total transaction of $109,060.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.