Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $5.40 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,221 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,644 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $5,395,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% in the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the subject of several research reports. 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 169,559 shares of company stock worth $10,587,476 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock opened at $63.89 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week high of $66.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $62.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.85. 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 market cap of $46.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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

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.