Millington Financial Advisors LLC Takes Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Millington Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 25,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,587,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Kroger by 11,570.7% in 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. State Street Corp increased its position in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in Kroger by 110.5% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after purchasing an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in Kroger by 163.1% in the third quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,382,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,219,000 after purchasing an additional 857,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 4,697.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 448,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,682,000 after purchasing an additional 438,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of KR opened at $64.80 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $47.15 and a 12-month high of $66.18. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $61.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.33.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.