LexAurum Advisors LLC Buys 438 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

LexAurum Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,046 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KR. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 11,570.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,417,000 after purchasing an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Kroger by 96.6% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after purchasing an additional 917,923 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $58.68 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.48. 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 Kroger Co. has a one year low of $44.48 and a one year high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $65.80.

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.