Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC Has $1.54 Million Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC decreased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,175 shares of the company’s stock after selling 281 shares during the quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Kroger by 11,570.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,729,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,417,000 after acquiring an additional 2,706,398 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 96.6% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Kroger by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,057,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,894,202,000 after buying an additional 2,110,681 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 110.5% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,574,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,828,000 after buying an additional 1,876,397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Kroger by 13.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,456,000 after buying an additional 917,923 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $54.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total transaction of $1,556,446.68. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. This represents a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total transaction of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Stock Performance

KR opened at $58.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.79. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $44.48 and a 1 year high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is 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.