First Business Financial Services Inc. Grows Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

First Business Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,668 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 733 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KR. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 143.9% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 4,543 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. National Pension Service increased its stake in Kroger by 20.3% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,361,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000,000 after purchasing an additional 229,725 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Kroger by 1.2% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 398,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,823,000 after purchasing an additional 4,661 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1834 Investment Advisors Co. increased its stake in Kroger by 22.2% in the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 151,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,664,000 after purchasing an additional 27,494 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $61.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Kroger currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $62.52 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.82. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $66.26. The company has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 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 company had revenue of $33.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.95 earnings per share. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire 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 stock is undervalued.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.86%.

Kroger Company 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.