BCGM Wealth Management LLC Sells 13,260 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

BCGM Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,493 shares of the company's stock after selling 13,260 shares during the quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Kroger were worth $2,148,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Kroger by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,591,402 shares of the company's stock worth $678,562,000 after acquiring an additional 723,771 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 917,923 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its position 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 worth $268,689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,811 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Kroger by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,279,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $261,543,000 after purchasing an additional 407,690 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,610,646 shares of the company's stock worth $230,210,000 after acquiring an additional 11,541 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KR. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Kroger from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $60.09.

Kroger Stock Down 1.3 %

KR stock traded down $0.74 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,632,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,284,460. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $42.10 and a 1-year high of $60.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $41.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $56.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.11.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion during 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%. Kroger's revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Kroger's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kroger news, SVP Valerie L. Jabbar sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $167,730.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 74,084 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,036.44. This represents a 3.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 47,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,644,743.01. This trade represents a 5.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,932 shares of company stock valued at $721,243. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.