Washington Capital Management Inc. Acquires 9,350 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Washington Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 267.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,850 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,350 shares during the period. Washington Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $786,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Kroger by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after buying an additional 53,006 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,083 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at about $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % 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 valued at $12,143,923 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $61.13 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $44.48 and a 52-week high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.80.

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.