Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. Has $701,000 Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. raised its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,039 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 53.3% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Kroger by 23.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,380,764 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,115,000 after buying an additional 261,368 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,882,000 after acquiring an additional 129,873 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in shares of Kroger by 82.2% in the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,634,000 after acquiring an additional 59,949 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Kroger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $671,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research raised Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.09.

Kroger Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $55.91 on Monday. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $42.10 and a 1 year high of $58.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.69. The stock has a market cap of $40.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total transaction of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,063 shares in the company, valued at $984,975.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.