Centricity Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 525 The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 525 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Kroger by 6.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,894,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,110,681 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,019,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $914,795,000 after purchasing an additional 126,303 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 0.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,246,000 after purchasing an additional 37,222 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 1.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after buying an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on KR. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.19.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $65.03 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $46.96 and a 12 month high of $66.18. The company has a market capitalization of $47.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.12. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

Kroger declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.