Hilltop National Bank Purchases 3,476 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Hilltop National Bank lifted its position in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 29.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,370 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,476 shares during the quarter. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in Kroger were worth $940,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KR. Mendel Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mendel Capital Management LLC now owns 31,559 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,808,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.2% in the third quarter. SignalPoint Asset Management LLC now owns 6,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Kroger by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $672,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the period. M3 Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Kroger by 5.6% during the third quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,285 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 2.8% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $500,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Kroger from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Kroger from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.93.

Insider Activity at Kroger

In other news, SVP Timothy A. Massa sold 25,889 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.12, for a total value of $1,556,446.68. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 115,861 shares in the company, valued at $6,965,563.32. The trade was a 18.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.44, for a total value of $1,040,302.08. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,304,366.08. This represents a 23.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,448 shares of company stock valued at $12,143,923. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Stock Up 0.4 %

Kroger stock traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $59.11. The stock had a trading volume of 1,027,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,678,257. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.54. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.48 and a fifty-two week high of $63.59. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.77 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $33.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.19 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. The business’s revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.