Whitener Capital Management Inc. Purchases 550 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Whitener Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,185 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $526,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 570,090 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,415,000 after acquiring an additional 256,777 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the first quarter valued at approximately $244,000. MRP Capital Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 33.0% in the first quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC now owns 17,590 shares of the company’s stock valued at $868,000 after buying an additional 4,365 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 1.0% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 63,688 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,144,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kroger by 16.6% in the first quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,000 after buying an additional 813 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.46, for a total value of $1,045,580.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,956 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,862,699.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Carin L. Fike sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.50, for a total transaction of $279,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 44,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,050,185. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.46, for a total value of $1,045,580.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,862,699.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.38% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on KR shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Kroger from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Kroger from $56.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Kroger from $54.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, June 16th. 3M reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Kroger in a research report on Friday, June 16th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.33.

Kroger Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of KR stock traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $46.04. 1,309,131 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,203,088. The firm has a market cap of $33.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.48. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $41.81 and a fifty-two week high of $50.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, September 8th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.05. Kroger had a return on equity of 30.61% and a net margin of 1.10%. The company had revenue of $33.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Kroger’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.79%.

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.