Resonant Capital Advisors LLC Sells 7,535 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,232 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,535 shares during the quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $2,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KR. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in Kroger by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 106,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,867,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 73,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,344,000 after acquiring an additional 15,683 shares during the last quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 11,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 1,560 shares during the period. Finally, Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 74.0% in the fourth quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 10,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 4,417 shares during the period. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Kroger from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Kroger from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $58.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BNP Paribas reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.17.

Kroger Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of KR traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,666,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,946,104. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.74. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $42.10 and a 1-year high of $58.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.21. Kroger had a return on equity of 31.44% and a net margin of 1.44%. The firm had revenue of $37.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.99 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.19%.

About Kroger

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.