Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 2,847 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 38.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,653 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,847 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in Kroger in the 4th quarter worth about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Kroger by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after purchasing an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at about $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Trading Up 0.4 %

KR opened at $65.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $47.21 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a PEG ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $60.83 and a 200-day moving average of $57.48. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $45.17 and a 52 week high of $65.75.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.86%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows 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 management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.