Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 9,196 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,177 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,196 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,968,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its holdings in Kroger by 25.5% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 212,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,170,000 after buying an additional 43,143 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Kroger in the third quarter valued at about $300,000. CWM LLC raised its position in Kroger by 0.8% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 33,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its stake in Kroger by 18.9% during the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 7,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $407,000 after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the period. Finally, First Affirmative Financial Network acquired a new stake in Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at $266,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.00.

Kroger Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $65.00 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.83 and its 200-day moving average is $57.46. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $44.49 and a 1 year high of $65.75.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. Equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.86%.

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

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the 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 directly owns 115,861 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.