J. W. Coons Advisors LLC Purchases 366 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

J. W. Coons Advisors LLC lifted its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 40,665 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. J. W. Coons Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Nexus Investment Management ULC now owns 48,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,942,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 4,539 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% in the third quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $65.03 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $61.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.26. The firm has a market cap of $47.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $46.96 and a 52 week high of $66.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 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, 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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.86%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the company’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 value of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % 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. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on KR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

About Kroger

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.