Capital Square LLC Sells 1,340 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Capital Square LLC lessened its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 16.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,595 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,340 shares during the period. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter worth $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 218.8% in the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. The trade was a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at $784,715.40. This represents a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on KR. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.09.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of Kroger stock traded up $0.48 on Monday, hitting $59.70. 309,442 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,639,645. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.19 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.97 and a 1 year high of $60.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.22.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.51%.

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.