B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Grows Holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,305 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Kroger were worth $614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter worth $10,336,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter worth $6,524,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 53.3% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 9,241 shares of the company’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 820,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,882,000 after purchasing an additional 129,873 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 82.2% during the 2nd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 132,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,634,000 after purchasing an additional 59,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kroger

In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Kroger news, VP Brian W. Nichols sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.53, for a total value of $109,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $984,975.39. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Carin L. Fike sold 3,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.57, for a total transaction of $167,265.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 47,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,644,743.01. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,010 shares of company stock valued at $444,056 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Kroger Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of KR stock opened at $55.89 on Friday. The Kroger Co. has a 1-year low of $42.10 and a 1-year high of $58.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $40.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.47.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 12th. The company reported $0.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 28.54%. The firm had revenue of $33.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.96 earnings per share. Kroger’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.46 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. Kroger’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on KR shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Kroger from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. StockNews.com cut shares of Kroger from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Kroger to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Kroger from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.36.

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.