3,317 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Acquired by Founders Financial Alliance LLC

Founders Financial Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 3,317 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the third 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. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Kroger by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,697,000 after acquiring an additional 36,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $73.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kroger from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.88.

Kroger Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $66.56 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $48.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.61, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $62.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.25. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $49.04 and a 1 year high of $68.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This trade represents a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 292,813 shares of company stock worth $19,131,375 over the last three months. Corporate 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.