22,310 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Acquired by Buckley Wealth Management LLC

Buckley Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 22,310 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,275,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kroger in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $229,863,000. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Kroger by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 23,786,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,087,276,000 after buying an additional 1,123,427 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the third quarter worth $42,220,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth $39,619,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Kroger by 378.8% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 765,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,988,000 after buying an additional 605,591 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Kroger from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.30.

Kroger Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Kroger stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $49.62. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,126,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,228,278. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $42.10 and a one year high of $58.34. The company has a market capitalization of $35.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $45.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.86 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $1.28 dividend. This represents a $5.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.32%. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.59%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were 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 $214,889.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,313,681.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger 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.