Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $497,000 Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 29.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 8,135 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,829 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $497,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Kroger during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 218.8% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 714 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in Kroger in the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Kroger in a research note on Friday, October 18th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $56.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.93.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 217,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,444,361.80. The trade was a 12.15 % 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 three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $58.68 on Friday. 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 $42.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.52, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.26 and a 200-day moving average of $56.46. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $44.48 and a 12-month high of $63.59.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.