Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 3,373 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,733 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $962,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Kroger by 11,570.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after buying an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $204,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Kroger by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after acquiring an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was 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 directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Stock Up 0.2 %

Kroger stock opened at $58.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 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 $60.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.79.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim initiated coverage on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.80.

Kroger 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.