CogentBlue Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New $204,000 Investment in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

CogentBlue Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,335 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KR. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,795,000 after acquiring an additional 126,303 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Kroger by 0.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after buying an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $280,248,000 after buying an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % 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 worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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, Telsey Advisory Group upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Up 0.2 %

KR stock opened at $65.41 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $46.96 and a one year high of $66.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The company 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s 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.