First Horizon Advisors Inc. Sells 995 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,296 shares of the company’s stock after selling 995 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Kroger by 698.8% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares during the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S increased its stake in Kroger by 35.1% during the 2nd quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 4,395,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,456,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,029 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 13.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after buying an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 5.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after buying an additional 723,771 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.09.

Kroger Stock Up 1.1 %

KR opened at $59.22 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.50, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.97 and a fifty-two week high of $60.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,743.01. This represents a 5.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total value of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 74,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,036.44. This trade represents a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock valued at $721,243 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.