WESPAC Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 13,418 The Kroger Co. $KR

Key Points

• WESPAC Advisors LLC purchased 13,418 shares of The Kroger Co., valued at approximately $962,000, reflecting growing interest from institutional investors.
• Research analysts have set a consensus price target of $73.63 for Kroger, with ten analysts rating the stock as a Buy.
• Kroger announced a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share, set to be paid on December 1st, contributing to an annualized yield of 2.1%.

WESPAC Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $962,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. IFC Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 1.7% during the first quarter. IFC Advisors LLC now owns 8,642 shares of the company's stock worth $585,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 1.9% during the second quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 8,025 shares of the company's stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Cairn Investment Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 0.3% during the second quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. now owns 58,902 shares of the company's stock worth $4,225,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Independent Wealth Network Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 0.9% during the second quarter. Independent Wealth Network Inc. now owns 19,312 shares of the company's stock worth $1,385,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Kroger by 1.6% during the first quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,182 shares of the company's stock worth $757,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.93% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on KR. Argus set a $85.00 price target on Kroger in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Roth Capital upgraded Kroger from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 target price on Kroger and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Kroger in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Roth Mkm upgraded Kroger from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $66.00 to $75.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Kroger has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $73.63.

Kroger Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $66.87 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average of $68.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.01. The Kroger Co. has a 1 year low of $54.88 and a 1 year high of $74.90.

Kroger (NYSE:KR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 32.62% and a net margin of 1.86%.Kroger's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger's payout ratio is 35.53%.

Insider Transactions at Kroger

In other Kroger news, Director Clyde R. Moore sold 3,810 shares of Kroger stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.61, for a total transaction of $272,834.10. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 85,850 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,147,718.50. The trade was a 4.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Kroger

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.

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