Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Has $263,000 Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,308 shares of the company’s stock after selling 188 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Kroger by 40.7% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 90,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,498,000 after buying an additional 26,079 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its stake in Kroger by 95.2% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 23,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 11,491 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the second quarter worth $2,470,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Kroger by 1.7% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 401,174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,031,000 after purchasing an additional 6,585 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on KR. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.80.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:KR opened at $58.68 on Monday. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $44.48 and a 1 year high of $63.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.83.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The company had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total transaction of $1,040,302.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by 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.