Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Takes Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 22,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,037,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.5% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 208,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,309,000 after buying an additional 8,876 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in Kroger by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 134,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,001,000 after purchasing an additional 9,392 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Kroger by 3.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 26,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,199,000 after purchasing an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 31.6% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 159,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,077,000 after purchasing an additional 38,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.2% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 146,759 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,567,000 after buying an additional 4,492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total transaction of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,615,091.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value of $368,445.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,615,091.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $832,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of Kroger stock traded up $0.07 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.38. The stock had a trading volume of 3,790,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,843,510. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The company has a market capitalization of $39.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.83.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

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.