Skopos Labs Inc. Invests $214,000 in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Skopos Labs Inc. bought a new position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,683 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of KR. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.7% in the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 8,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 2.0% during the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 12,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $555,000 after buying an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 33,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balentine LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 2.5% during the third quarter. Balentine LLC now owns 10,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $479,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on KR. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total transaction of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares in the company, valued at $214,889.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,615,091.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR traded down $0.32 on Friday, reaching $52.99. 6,276,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,995,606. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $38.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.49. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $42.10 and a 12 month high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.19%.

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.