Cwm LLC Sells 11,345 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Cwm LLC lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 32.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,400 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,345 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KR. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 370.1% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 430.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 637 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares in the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 613.0% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KR. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

Kroger Price Performance

KR opened at $55.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The company has a market capitalization of $40.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.26. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 39.19%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 30,251 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total transaction of $1,693,450.98. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,894,582.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $832,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 30,251 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total value of $1,693,450.98. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,894,582.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 49,180 shares of company stock worth $2,750,322 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

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.