Diligent Investors LLC Sells 3,000 Shares of The Kroger Co. $KR

Diligent Investors LLC reduced its position in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 28.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,664 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Diligent Investors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Kroger by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $962,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 118.2% during the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 26,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 14,168 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 7,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,004 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,655 shares of the company’s stock worth $924,000 after buying an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in Kroger by 144.1% during the 1st quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 14,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 8,295 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 3,810 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total transaction of $272,834.10. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 85,850 shares in the company, valued at $6,147,718.50. This represents a 4.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Kroger Stock Performance

NYSE KR opened at $66.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85. The stock has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.57. The Kroger Co. has a twelve month low of $54.88 and a twelve month high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 32.62%. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on KR. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Kroger from $57.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Argus set a $85.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Roth Capital upgraded shares of Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kroger presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.63.

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.