Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC Acquires 273 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,488 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in KR. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Kroger by 25.5% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 212,250 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,170,000 after purchasing an additional 43,143 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 103,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,953,000 after purchasing an additional 48,843 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 4,697.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 448,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,682,000 after purchasing an additional 438,856 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 52.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $849,000 after purchasing an additional 5,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its position in Kroger by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 9,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $535,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Up 1.0 %

Kroger stock opened at $65.03 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.26. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $46.96 and a fifty-two week high of $66.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.95 EPS. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective 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. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.