Courier Capital LLC Trims Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Courier Capital LLC lessened its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,616 shares of the company’s stock after selling 421 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter worth about $10,336,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter worth about $6,524,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 53.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 3,212 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Kroger by 18.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN increased its position in Kroger by 82.2% in the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after buying an additional 59,949 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of Kroger stock opened at $57.62 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $54.68 and a 200 day moving average of $53.86. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $42.10 and a 12 month high of $58.34. The firm has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.67, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $386,247.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on KR. Argus upped their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.09.

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.