The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Purchased by Mindset Wealth Management LLC

Mindset Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,904 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Mindset Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $544,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in shares of Kroger by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nexus Investment Management ULC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 48,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,942,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total value of $1,872,355.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This represents a 34.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total value of $7,839,343.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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. Insiders have sold 212,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,282,348 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Kroger from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Roth Capital set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.88.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR stock opened at $64.69 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $46.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $49.04 and a 12-month high of $68.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.78.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

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.