Wedmont Private Capital Buys 440 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,717 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 440 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Kroger were worth $456,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Kroger during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kroger by 218.8% during the 2nd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Kroger in the third quarter worth about $43,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KR. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Melius Research began coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas started coverage on Kroger in a research report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.93.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $58.74 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $44.48 and a 52 week high of $63.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $60.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, 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 in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value 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 have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger 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.