SteelPeak Wealth LLC Sells 400 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

SteelPeak Wealth LLC decreased its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,661 shares of the company’s stock after selling 400 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hengehold Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Hengehold Capital Management LLC now owns 13,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $778,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.0% during the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 12,405 shares of the company’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 14,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 33,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Kroger by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on KR. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. BNP Paribas reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Kroger from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.30.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $49.93 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $53.06 and a 200-day moving average of $50.97. The company has a market cap of $36.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.45.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The firm had revenue of $45.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.28 per share. This is an increase from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. This represents a $5.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 39.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total transaction of $832,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,929 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.03, for a total value of $224,070.87. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 3,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,889.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 15,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 77,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,681.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 55,796 shares of company stock worth $3,118,767. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.