Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund Sold The Kroger Co. (KR) For Better Opportunities

Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund” second-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. In the quarter, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTQX returned 0.26%, Advisor Class fund APDQX posted a return of 0.26%, and Institutional Class fund APHQX returned 0.33%, compared to a 5.35% return for the Russell Midcap Value Index. Equity markets experienced heightened volatility followed by the announcement and subsequent pause of the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs. The portfolio underperformed in the quarter due to the market’s preference for growth and the outperformance of more cyclical sectors and industries. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025.

In its second-quarter 2025 investor letter, Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund highlighted stocks such as The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) is a US based food and drug retailer. The one-month return of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) was -3.77%, and its shares gained 28.50% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On August 28, 2025, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) stock closed at $67.46 per share, with a market capitalization of $44.602 billion.

Artisan Mid Cap Value Fund stated the following regarding The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in its second quarter 2025 investor letter:

“On the sales side, we sold The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), a food retailer, in favor of more attractive opportunities. Amid the market tumult in April, we took advantage of people’s zeal for stable businesses to exit our position at what appeared a full valuation. When we originally purchased Kroger in 2017, the stock was under pressure due to concerns that Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods would disintermediate the food retail market. That clearly hasn’t happened. During our holding period, the company has been a strong operator, and its stock has performed well as investors have appreciated its steady business results and ability to raise prices as a free rider of inflation. Kroger has been able to pile up cash and deleverage its balance sheet, and the termination of the planned merger with Albertsons allowed it to resume stock buybacks. We continue to like Kroger and would welcome the opportunity to own it again if it were to become out of favor.”

In another article, we covered The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) and shared the list of best long-term stocks to invest in according to Warren Buffett. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.