Summit Trail Advisors LLC Purchases 1,379 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 20.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,975 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Kroger by 96.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Kroger by 698.8% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,878,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,307 shares during the last quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 35.1% in the second quarter. Maj Invest Holding A S now owns 4,395,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,456,000 after buying an additional 1,141,029 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Kroger by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,456,000 after acquiring an additional 917,923 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kroger by 5.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $678,562,000 after purchasing an additional 723,771 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE KR opened at $60.59 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $43.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $57.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.87. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.97 and a 52-week high of $60.70.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a return on equity of 28.54% and a net margin of 1.86%. The company had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KR. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Melius Research started coverage on Kroger in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,743.01. This trade represents a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 12,932 shares of company stock worth $721,243 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Kroger

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.