Signal Advisors Wealth LLC Sells 4,493 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lessened its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) by 44.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,640 shares of the company's stock after selling 4,493 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC's holdings in Kroger were worth $345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KR. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kroger by 20.0% in the second quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Kroger by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 38,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,917,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Kroger in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,288,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Kroger by 3.4% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 380,991 shares of the company's stock worth $19,023,000 after acquiring an additional 12,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 5.0% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 27,202 shares of the company's stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kroger Price Performance

NYSE:KR traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $58.68. The stock had a trading volume of 4,070,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,825,504. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $44.48 and a 12 month high of $63.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 company 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 53,782 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. StockNews.com lowered Kroger from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.93.

Kroger Company 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.