Mission Wealth Management LP Buys New Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Mission Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $585,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Kroger by 143.9% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 4,543 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 20.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,361,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000,000 after purchasing an additional 229,725 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.2% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 398,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,823,000 after purchasing an additional 4,661 shares during the period. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 22.2% in the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 151,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,664,000 after purchasing an additional 27,494 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $62.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.82. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $49.04 and a 12-month high of $66.26. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.