The Kroger Co. $KR Shares Acquired by Courier Capital LLC

Courier Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 94.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,190 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,406 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SGL Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Kroger in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,764,000. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,942,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,912,000 after buying an additional 610,039 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $76,633,000. Quantitative Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,527,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 537.2% in the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 117,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,533,000 after buying an additional 99,183 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kroger News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Kroger this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Kroger plans to eliminate approximately 3,000 corporate positions—about 37% of its corporate workforce—over the next three years. CEO Greg Foran said the company has excessive layers, handoffs and overhead, suggesting the restructuring could reduce costs, speed decision-making and redirect resources toward store-level prices and service. The company is also expanding its use of artificial intelligence, although management characterized the changes primarily as an operating overhaul rather than solely an AI-driven job replacement. Kroger to cut 3K corporate jobs over the next 3 years
• Neutral Sentiment: The planned cuts could improve long-term efficiency, but their scale creates execution, employee-morale and service risks. Investors will likely look for evidence that savings translate into better pricing and profitability without weakening store operations. Kroger plans to cut about a third of corporate roles
• Neutral Sentiment: Kroger is promoting its pharmacy vaccination services and continues to benefit from grocery demand, private-label products, pharmacy operations and digital sales. These defensive characteristics may support the business, but the promotional announcement has limited near-term earnings impact. Kroger helps keep families healthy this fall
• Negative Sentiment: Albertsons is seeking more than $9 billion in damages over the collapse of Kroger’s approximately $25 billion merger proposal. Albertsons alleges Kroger prioritized its own interests and failed to pursue regulatory approval adequately, including by resisting the divestitures needed to preserve the transaction. A court hearing is scheduled to address responsibility, creating potentially significant litigation costs and uncertainty for Kroger. Albertsons seeks $8B from Kroger over failed merger
• Negative Sentiment: Sen. Elizabeth Warren has asked U.S. antitrust authorities to scrutinize Kroger’s proposed $1.65 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle, arguing that additional grocery consolidation could raise consumer prices. The inquiry increases regulatory uncertainty around Kroger’s growth strategy. Senator raises concerns over Kroger’s plan to buy Giant Eagle

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, EVP Mary Adcock sold 72,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.70, for a total value of $4,425,090.70. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 175,233 shares in the company, valued at $10,636,643.10. The trade was a 29.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on KR. Wells Fargo & Company set a $58.00 price target on Kroger in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays set a $61.00 price target on Kroger and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on Kroger from $78.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.82.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR stock traded down $1.95 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $60.61. The company had a trading volume of 8,902,345 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,014,305. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.59, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $35.79 billion, a PE ratio of 32.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.36. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $54.15 and a 12 month high of $76.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $58.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.88.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Friday, September 11th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.04. Kroger had a net margin of 0.73% and a return on equity of 49.90%. The firm had revenue of $34.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Kroger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.100-5.300 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 84.78%.

About Kroger

The Kroger Co is a U.S.-based food and consumer goods retailer headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1883 by Bernard Kroger, the company has grown into one of the largest supermarket operators in the United States.

Kroger operates supermarkets, multi-department stores, marketplace-format stores, pharmacies and fuel centers. Its stores sell groceries, fresh produce, meat, seafood, bakery and deli products, household essentials, health and beauty items, and general merchandise. The company also offers digital shopping, pickup and delivery services, loyalty programs, and a range of private-label products.

The company serves customers across numerous U.S.