ICA Group Wealth Management LLC Decreases Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

ICA Group Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 69.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 550 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,228 shares during the quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $27,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Kroger by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock valued at $528,000 after acquiring an additional 3,212 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Kroger by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,380,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,115,000 after buying an additional 261,368 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Kroger by 18.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,882,000 after buying an additional 129,873 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its holdings in Kroger by 82.2% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after buying an additional 59,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 4th quarter worth $671,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.09.

Kroger Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of KR opened at $56.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.56 billion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 29.89% and a net margin of 1.43%. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Kroger’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at $984,975.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.