Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,142 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,427 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,113,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Kroger by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,052,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $249,717,000 after acquiring an additional 148,221 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Kroger by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,890,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $280,248,000 after purchasing an additional 53,006 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,176,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,697,000 after purchasing an additional 36,083 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at approximately $566,000. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Down 3.3 %

NYSE:KR opened at $62.71 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $49.00 and a 1 year high of $66.26. The stock has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.72.

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

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.86%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $1,167,800.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,620 shares in the company, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. The trade was a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923 over the last quarter. Company 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.