WoodTrust Financial Corp Has $5.15 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

WoodTrust Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 12.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 90,168 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 10,045 shares during the quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp’s holdings in Kroger were worth $5,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4,810.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,955,000 after purchasing an additional 556,266 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after purchasing an additional 11,707 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,380,764 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,115,000 after purchasing an additional 261,368 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at $671,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 156,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,143,000 after purchasing an additional 17,380 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wolfe Research raised Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.30.

Kroger Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of KR stock traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $49.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,628,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,558,777. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.88. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $36.03 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Kroger had a return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The firm had revenue of $45.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.86 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.51 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $1.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This is a positive change from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.25%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $832,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,313,681.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.