Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR – Free Report) by 4.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,496 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 255.6% during the 1st quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 101.6% during the first quarter.
Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 496 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Kroger in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Palisade Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
A number of research firms recently weighed in on KR. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th.
Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.09.
KR stock opened at $56.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34. The company has a market cap of $40.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.87.
Kroger (NYSE:KR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s payout ratio is 43.69%.
