MRP Capital Investments LLC Raises Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

21 Mar 2025, 09:14 by Jessica Moore · The Cerbat Gem

MRP Capital Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Free Report) by 24.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 900 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $55,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% during the fourth quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Read Our Latest Analysis on Kroger

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 139,338 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.71, for a total transaction of $86,723.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $806,523.90. This represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 212,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,282,348 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $64.69 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $49.04 and a 12-month high of $68.51. The stock has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.24 and a 200 day moving average of $59.78.

Kroger (NYSE:KR – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.96 billion. 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.