14,776 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Purchased by WESPAC Advisors LLC

WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $847,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Kroger by 698.8% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares during the period. Maj Invest Holding A S grew its position in shares of Kroger by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 4,395,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,029 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 13.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after purchasing an additional 917,923 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Kroger by 5.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after buying an additional 723,771 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kroger Stock Performance

Kroger stock opened at $59.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.97 and a twelve month high of $60.35. The company has a market capitalization of $42.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.51%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,036.44. The trade was a 3.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price target on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.09.

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.