CWA Asset Management Group LLC Buys 11,013 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,892 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 11,013 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Pensionfund Sabic increased its position in Kroger by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 25,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,529,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $249,717,000 after buying an additional 148,221 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 22,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,398,000 after buying an additional 2,977 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Kroger by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Kroger by 0.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,164,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,246,000 after acquiring an additional 37,222 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, December 23rd. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.93.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $60.49 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $44.48 and a 1-year high of $63.59. The stock has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted 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 return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.95 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.