WFA of San Diego LLC Invests $47,000 in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sanders Capital LLC acquired a new position in Kroger during the first quarter worth $622,480,000. Boston Partners boosted its stake in Kroger by 5,992.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,299,033 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,221,000 after buying an additional 4,228,468 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $156,126,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Kroger by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,667,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,642,000 after buying an additional 2,552,989 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd acquired a new position in Kroger during the second quarter worth $64,087,000. 78.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.50, for a total transaction of $279,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 44,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,050,185. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.46, for a total value of $1,045,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,862,699.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.50, for a total value of $279,000.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 44,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,050,185. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,798 shares of company stock worth $1,542,985 in the last quarter. 1.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock opened at $42.92 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.50. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $50.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $44.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.43.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 8th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 30.61% and a net margin of 1.10%. The firm had revenue of $33.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Kroger in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, September 20th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, September 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $52.57.

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.