Waterloo Capital L.P. Has $566,000 Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 10.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,256 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 857 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of Kroger by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 18,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Kroger by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 23,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,432,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 4,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on KR shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Melius lowered Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Kroger from $61.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Melius Research downgraded shares of Kroger from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kroger has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, CFO Todd A. Foley sold 28,105 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.62, for a total transaction of $1,872,355.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 52,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,521,599.82. This represents a 34.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Yael Cosset sold 115,149 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.08, for a total transaction of $7,839,343.92. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 139,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,486,131.04. This represents a 45.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 228,785 shares of company stock worth $15,393,666. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $67.05 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.88. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $49.04 and a one year high of $71.93. The firm has a market cap of $48.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.60.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $34.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.96 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.85% and a return on equity of 27.73%. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.88%.

Kroger announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback $7.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 16.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board 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.