Valley National Advisers Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 39.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,303 shares of the company’s stock after selling 836 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $78,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KR. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kroger by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after buying an additional 126,303 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after buying an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after buying an additional 53,006 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $61.65 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.61 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.11. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $44.48 and a 1-year high of $63.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on KR shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Company Profile

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.