Columbia Asset Management Buys Shares of 5,438 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Columbia Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 5,438 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hengehold Capital Management LLC raised its position in Kroger by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 13,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 6,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. W Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. W Advisors LLC now owns 32,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, Csenge Advisory Group increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 4,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Up 0.0 %

Kroger stock opened at $53.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.39. The company has a market cap of $38.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.45. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $45.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.86 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kroger’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.