Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Buys New Shares in The Kroger Co. $KR

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 316,674 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,786,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WESPAC Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Kroger by 1.2% during the third quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 13,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in Kroger by 16.8% during the third quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 1,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas grew its position in Kroger by 0.9% during the third quarter. Community Bank & Trust Waco Texas now owns 18,846 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,270,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Kroger by 3.0% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 6,568 shares of the company’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. Finally, Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI increased its stake in Kroger by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 15,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $984,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.93% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Kroger from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Kroger in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Kroger from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.56.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of KR stock opened at $64.77 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $39.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.46. The Kroger Co. has a one year low of $58.60 and a one year high of $76.58.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $34.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.10 billion. Kroger had a return on equity of 41.08% and a net margin of 0.69%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. Kroger has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.100-5.300 EPS. On average, analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 5.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Friday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 15th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Kroger’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 91.50%.

Kroger Company Profile

The Kroger Co (NYSE: KR) is one of the largest supermarket operators in the United States, offering a wide range of retail grocery and related services. Founded in Cincinnati in 1883 by Bernard Kroger, the company operates a portfolio of supermarket and multi-department store banners and provides customers with fresh foods, packaged groceries, deli and bakery items, meat and seafood, produce, and prepared foods. Kroger’s stores commonly include pharmacy services and fuel centers, positioning the company as a broad-based neighborhood retail destination for everyday needs.

In addition to traditional in-store retailing, Kroger manufactures and distributes a variety of private-label brands and operates its own food production and supply-chain facilities.