Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. Cuts Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc. lessened its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,820 shares of the company’s stock after selling 199 shares during the quarter. Brass Tax Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mendel Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Jaffetilchin Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M3 Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.6% during the third quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE KR traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.27. 1,155,603 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,711,446. The company has a market capitalization of $45.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $58.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $43.51 and a twelve month high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. This represents a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. This trade represents a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,821 shares of company stock valued at $3,445,490 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.31.

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.