OneAscent Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

OneAscent Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 5.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,742 shares of the company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kathmere Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 36.8% during the first quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 15,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,171 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Kroger during the first quarter worth about $3,434,000. Hengehold Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.4% during the first quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 13,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Buckley Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the first quarter worth approximately $1,275,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 17.5% during the first quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,684 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 699 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KR. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.30.

Kroger Price Performance

KR stock opened at $49.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.43. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $58.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $45.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.86 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The company’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.25%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,615,091.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently 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.