Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $497,000 Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,135 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,829 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $497,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Mendel Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group raised its position in Kroger by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 5,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kroger by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 5,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after buying an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,965,563.32. The trade was a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $58.68 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $44.48 and a 1-year high of $63.59. 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 stock has a market cap of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average of $56.46.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.95 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on KR. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.93.

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.