Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Makes New Investment in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 12,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after acquiring an additional 53,006 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,697,000 after acquiring an additional 36,083 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on KR. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR opened at $65.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $47.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.96 and a fifty-two week high of $66.18. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $61.60 and its 200-day moving average is $58.03.

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

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.86%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was 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, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.