Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Purchases 238 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,720 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $500,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kroger by 5.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,562,000 after purchasing an additional 723,771 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Kroger by 13.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 7,759,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $387,456,000 after acquiring an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 96.6% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,381,311 shares of the company’s stock valued at $268,689,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Kroger by 8.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,279,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $261,543,000 after acquiring an additional 407,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Kroger by 0.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,610,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,210,000 after purchasing an additional 11,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KR has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Melius Research assumed coverage on Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Kroger currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.09.

Kroger Stock Down 0.8 %

KR stock opened at $59.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.16 and a 200-day moving average of $54.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $42.10 and a fifty-two week high of $60.35.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. Kroger’s payout ratio is presently 33.51%.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 6,922 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $386,247.60. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 14,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $784,715.40. The trade was a 32.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total value of $167,265.70. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,743.01. The trade was a 5.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,932 shares of company stock valued at $721,243. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.