15,524 Shares in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) Bought by Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $710,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 370.1% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 430.8% during the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 637 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in Kroger by 613.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 820 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Kroger in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total value of $368,445.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 46,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,615,091.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 6,616 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.69, for a total transaction of $368,445.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 46,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,615,091.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kenneth C. Kimball sold 30,251 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.98, for a total transaction of $1,693,450.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 105,298 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,894,582.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,118,767 over the last ninety days. 1.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock traded down $0.19 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $55.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,464,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,888,630. The business has a fifty day moving average of $54.54 and a 200-day moving average of $48.45. The company has a market cap of $39.97 billion, a PE ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a 52 week low of $42.10 and a 52 week high of $58.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.19%.

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.