RHS Financial LLC Has $355,000 Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

RHS Financial LLC increased its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,801 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 947 shares during the period. RHS Financial LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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. raised its holdings in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after acquiring an additional 37,222 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after acquiring an additional 53,006 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $61.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.38 and a 200 day moving average of $57.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $44.48 and a 52 week high of $63.59.

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

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.80.

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.