Soltis Investment Advisors LLC Sells 119,807 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 96.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,683 shares of the company’s stock after selling 119,807 shares during the quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IFC Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kroger by 1.7% during the first quarter. IFC Advisors LLC now owns 8,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $585,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 1.9% in the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 8,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its position in Kroger by 2.0% during the second quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 7,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.3% during the second quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 58,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,225,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Independent Wealth Network Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 19,312 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,385,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on KR shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, September 12th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $82.00) on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

Kroger Price Performance

KR opened at $64.89 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $43.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.87. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $57.08 and a 52-week high of $74.90.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.53%.

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.