The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Shares Purchased by Navellier & Associates Inc.

Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 25.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,563 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 48,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its position in shares of Kroger by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 4,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $278,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group raised its position in shares of Kroger by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,366 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group lifted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Up 1.0 %

Kroger stock opened at $65.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.05 billion, a PE ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $46.96 and a 52 week high of $66.18.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.