Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Position in The Kroger Co. $KR

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 21,905 shares of the company’s stock after selling 261 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,571,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter worth $25,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 6,840.0% in the 2nd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 347 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 46.7% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 550 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Kroger from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.63.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR opened at $67.88 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $68.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.95. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $54.88 and a one year high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 35.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 3,810 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total value of $272,834.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 85,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,147,718.50. The trade was a 4.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.