Wealthquest Corp Trims Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Wealthquest Corp lessened its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 24.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,433 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,374 shares during the quarter. Wealthquest Corp’s holdings in Kroger were worth $422,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after buying an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Kroger by 96.6% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Kroger by 6.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 698.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. The trade was a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,821 shares of company stock valued at $3,445,490. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KR. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Kroger from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.67.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $61.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.36 billion, a PE ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.70. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $43.51 and a 12-month high of $62.03. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

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.