CWA Asset Management Group LLC Buys 11,013 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 45,892 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,013 shares during the quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mendel Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,808,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.2% during the third quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $672,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 5.6% in the third quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.8% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 target price for the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,304,366.08. This trade represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last quarter. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $60.49 on Tuesday. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $44.48 and a twelve month high of $63.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.93 and a 200 day moving average of $56.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The firm has a market cap of $43.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.00, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.