Winebrenner Capital Management LLC Buys Shares of 3,486 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Winebrenner Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Kroger by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 16,563 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $1,321,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. ING Groep NV lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 75.2% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 155,911 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,534,000 after purchasing an additional 66,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parcion Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 86,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KR shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

KR stock opened at $65.03 on Friday. 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 1-year low of $46.96 and a 1-year high of $66.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.12. The firm has a market cap of $47.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % 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.