Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in The Kroger Co. $KR

Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,323 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,160 shares during the quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Kroger were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of KR. IFC Advisors LLC raised its position in Kroger by 1.7% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC raised its position in Kroger by 1.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. PDS Planning Inc raised its position in Kroger by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 7,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Cairn Investment Group Inc. raised its position in Kroger by 0.3% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Finally, Independent Wealth Network Inc. raised its position in Kroger by 0.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. 80.93% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on KR. Morgan Stanley set a $76.00 price target on shares of Kroger and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kroger from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Roth Capital raised shares of 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Kroger from $82.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Kroger in a research note on Friday, September 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

Kroger Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KR opened at $69.13 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.57. The Kroger Co. has a 12 month low of $55.60 and a 12 month high of $74.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Kroger (NYSE:KR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $33.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.08 billion. Kroger had a net margin of 1.86% and a return on equity of 32.62%. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Kroger has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.700-4.800 EPS. Analysts expect that The Kroger Co. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Kroger Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. Kroger’s payout ratio is presently 35.53%.

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.