Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Sells 4,493 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lessened its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 44.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,640 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,493 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Kroger by 218.8% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Kroger during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KR. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.93.

Kroger Stock Down 2.0 %

KR stock opened at $58.74 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $42.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.44. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.48 and a fifty-two week high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was 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 $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 have sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.40% 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.