1,337 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Acquired by Noble Wealth Management PBC

Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,337 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Kroger in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. raised its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% during the 4th quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the business’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 completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on KR shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

Kroger Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of KR opened at $64.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $48.21 and a 12-month high of $66.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $62.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $58.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $33.63 billion during 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 previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

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.