Navellier & Associates Inc. Has $1.01 Million Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Navellier & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 25.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,563 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,013,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KR. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 1,628.1% during the fourth quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on KR shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Roth Mkm lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of KR opened at $65.03 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $46.96 and a twelve month high of $66.18. The company 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 company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.20.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

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.