Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Sells 2,772 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 104,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,772 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $6,372,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and 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 period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Kroger by 110.5% in the third 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 buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 163.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,219,000 after acquiring an additional 857,008 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Kroger by 569.6% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 812,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,538,000 after acquiring an additional 690,884 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on KR shares. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Kroger Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $65.00 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.46. The company has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $44.49 and a 52-week high of $65.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54.

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. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.