Avior Wealth Management LLC Cuts Stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR)

Avior Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 65,766 shares of the company’s stock after selling 599 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $3,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of KR. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in Kroger by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 12,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $739,000 after acquiring an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its stake in Kroger by 30.2% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 29,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,672,000 after acquiring an additional 6,764 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Kroger by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 14,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 974 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kroger in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,443,000. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in shares of Kroger by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,703 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Kroger Stock Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $55.26 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.81. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $42.10 and a one year high of $58.34. The firm has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.48.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.19%.

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.