West Coast Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

West Coast Financial LLC grew its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,919 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the period. West Coast Financial LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $9,106,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Kroger by 96.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 698.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after buying an additional 1,643,307 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.93.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock opened at $58.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $42.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.48 and a fifty-two week high of $63.59. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.44.

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

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

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.