Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Decreases Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV decreased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Kroger were worth $122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Kroger by 110.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Kroger during the 4th quarter worth about $68,581,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 163.1% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,219,000 after acquiring an additional 857,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock opened at $64.69 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $49.04 and a 12 month high of $68.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.78.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. Equities analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

About Kroger

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.