Valley National Advisers Inc. Has $78,000 Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 39.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,303 shares of the company’s stock after selling 836 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $78,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter worth about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after acquiring an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kroger by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 3rd quarter worth about $566,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. This trade represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.80.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE:KR opened at $61.65 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.11. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $44.48 and a 1 year high of $63.59. The company has a market capitalization of $44.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

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.