Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 144,845 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,035,732 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 144,845 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.70% of Kroger worth $307,935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of KR. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kroger during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kroger during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Adirondack Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Kroger by 1,628.1% during the fourth quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 553 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Kroger in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Kroger in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Stuart Aitken sold 132,627 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.18, for a total value of $8,379,373.86. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 217,523 shares in the company, valued at $13,743,103.14. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 16,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 195,448 shares of company stock worth $12,143,923 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KR has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Kroger from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.19.

Kroger Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $62.52 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $66.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.82. The company has a market cap of $45.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.51.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, December 5th. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) 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 return on equity of 27.73% and a net margin of 1.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $7.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is 33.86%.

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.