SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC Has $367,000 Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,428 shares of the company’s stock after selling 633 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,619,742 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,246,000 after acquiring an additional 50,177 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $332,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 585,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,201,000 after acquiring an additional 57,595 shares in the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after acquiring an additional 11,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alethea Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kroger during the 3rd quarter valued at $445,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, June 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.30.

Kroger Stock Up 0.7 %

KR stock opened at $50.76 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The Kroger Co. has a 52-week low of $42.10 and a 52-week high of $58.34.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 20th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $45.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.86 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.43% and a return on equity of 29.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.45 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $1.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $5.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.09%. This is a positive change from Kroger’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 30,251 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total transaction of $1,693,450.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,894,582.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Kroger 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.