Equitable Trust Co. Lowers Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Equitable Trust Co. lessened its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,334 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,446 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $204,828,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876,397 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 163.1% during the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,219,000 after acquiring an additional 857,008 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 569.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 812,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,538,000 after acquiring an additional 690,884 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective 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, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Kroger Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $65.04 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.57. The stock has a market cap of $47.07 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $45.17 and a 52-week high of $65.75.

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

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

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