Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 21,700 Shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 47.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,796 shares of the company’s stock after selling 21,700 shares during the period. Octavia Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $1,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Kroger by 4,810.7% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 567,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,955,000 after purchasing an additional 556,266 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Kroger by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 284,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after purchasing an additional 11,707 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 49.3% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 115,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,165,000 after buying an additional 38,119 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 239.9% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 168,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,519,000 after buying an additional 118,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,647,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,175,000 after buying an additional 115,264 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Kroger Price Performance

Kroger stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $55.45. The company had a trading volume of 2,985,445 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,948,646. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.56. The Kroger Co. has a 12-month low of $42.10 and a 12-month high of $58.34. The company has a market capitalization of $40.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $37.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.07 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 31.44%. Kroger’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Kroger Co. will post 4.43 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.09%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.19%.

Kroger Company 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.