Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Kroger Co. $KR

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 36.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,069 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,910 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 99.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 14,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 7,199 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 37.3% in the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 10.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 25,209 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347 shares during the period. Finally, Zhang Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the first quarter valued at about $244,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KR. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Roth Capital raised shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, September 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 3,810 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total transaction of $272,834.10. Following the sale, the director owned 85,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,147,718.50. This represents a 4.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.44% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE KR opened at $67.88 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.23, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $54.88 and a 12 month high of $74.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.05.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 32.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.53%.

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.