Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Has $502,000 Stock Position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,673 shares of the company’s stock after selling 397 shares during the quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 82.8% during the second quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the period. Mcmillion Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kroger during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 360.6% during the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 958 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.98% of the company’s stock.

Kroger Price Performance

KR traded down $0.22 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.44. 10,564,634 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,996,753. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $42.10 and a twelve month high of $50.41. The company has a market cap of $30.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, September 8th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.05. Kroger had a net margin of 1.10% and a return on equity of 30.61%. The business had revenue of $33.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.79%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.46, for a total transaction of $1,045,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 194,956 shares in the company, valued at $8,862,699.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 23,000 shares of the business’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 owns 194,956 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,862,699.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 4,798 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.52, for a total transaction of $218,404.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 4,156 shares in the company, valued at approximately $189,181.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 33,798 shares of company stock worth $1,542,985. Corporate insiders own 1.38% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KR. StockNews.com began coverage on Kroger in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a report on Wednesday, September 20th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on Kroger in a report on Friday, September 22nd. They set a “hold” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $52.57.

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.