Checchi Capital Advisers LLC Raises Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Checchi Capital Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,704 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $410,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the 3rd 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 period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 163.1% during the 3rd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,219,000 after buying an additional 857,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth $20,941,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE KR opened at $63.91 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.49. The company has a market capitalization of $46.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $48.21 and a 12 month high of $66.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger 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.