United Advisor Group LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Kroger Co. $KR

United Advisor Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 38.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,034 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,863 shares during the quarter. United Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KR. Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Kroger during the 2nd quarter worth $2,901,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in Kroger by 2,313.4% in the 2nd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 138,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,964,000 after acquiring an additional 133,159 shares during the last quarter. Advocate Group LLC increased its holdings in Kroger by 16.6% during the 2nd quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 121,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,707,000 after acquiring an additional 17,284 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new position in Kroger during the second quarter worth about $480,000. Finally, Liberty One Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kroger by 1.4% in the second quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 463,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,255,000 after purchasing an additional 6,528 shares in the last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $82.00) on shares of Kroger in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Roth Mkm upgraded Kroger from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.50.

Kroger Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of KR opened at $67.44 on Thursday. The Kroger Co. has a fifty-two week low of $57.08 and a fifty-two week high of $74.90. The company has a market capitalization of $44.69 billion, a PE ratio of 17.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.55. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Dividend Announcement

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

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.