592 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Purchased by Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC

Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Mutual Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Kroger during the third quarter worth about $249,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Kroger by 14.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,951,000 after buying an additional 8,387 shares during the last quarter. Shelton Capital Management raised its position in shares of Kroger by 18.5% in the third quarter. Shelton Capital Management now owns 84,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,787,000 after buying an additional 13,201 shares during the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $446,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Kroger by 2.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,619,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,246,000 after buying an additional 50,177 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.30.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In related news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $832,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Kroger news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $832,800.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at $214,889.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of KR stock traded up $0.33 on Wednesday, hitting $50.76. The stock had a trading volume of 3,191,500 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,283,923. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $52.83 and its 200-day moving average is $51.06. 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 Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share 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 $1.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This is a boost from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.09%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.59%.

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.