Inceptionr LLC Purchases New Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Inceptionr LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 21,935 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,341,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. boosted its stake in Kroger by 1,628.1% during the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on KR. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Roth Mkm raised their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities research 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % 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 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.82. 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 Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $66.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Company 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.