Mission Wealth Management LP Buys New Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 9,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 143.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 4,543 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Kroger by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,361,263 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000,000 after acquiring an additional 229,725 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Kroger by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 398,313 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,823,000 after acquiring an additional 4,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in Kroger by 22.2% in the 3rd quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 151,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,664,000 after acquiring an additional 27,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $49.04 and a twelve month high of $66.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. 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 prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. The trade was a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.