RHS Financial LLC Acquires 947 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

RHS Financial LLC lifted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 19.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,801 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 947 shares during the period. RHS Financial LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Adirondack Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% during the fourth quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 521 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 218.8% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.80.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $61.65 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $60.38 and a 200 day moving average of $57.02. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $44.48 and a 1 year high of $63.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.95 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Saturday, March 1st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 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.