Shares of Kroger (NYSE:KR) traded at a new 52-week high today of $28.18. Approximately 769,000 shares have changed hands today, as compared to an average 30-day volume of 3.4 million shares.

The Kroger Co. operates supermarkets and convenience stores in the United States. The Company also manufactures and processes some of the foods that its supermarkets sell.

Kroger has overhead space with shares priced $28.14, or 0.7% below the average consensus analyst price target of $28.33. The stock should find initial support at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $26.64 and further support at its 200-day MA of $23.93.

Over the past year, Kroger has traded in a range of $20.98 to $28.18 and is now at $28.14, 34% above that low. Over the past week, the 200-day moving average (MA) has gone up 0.4% while the 50-day MA has advanced 1.0%.

SmarTrend recommended that subscribers consider buying shares of Kroger on September 6th, 2012 as our proprietary SmarTrend analytics indicated a new Uptrend was in progress when shares hit $22.82. Since that recommendation, shares of Kroger have risen 22.8%. We continue to monitor KR for any potential shift so investors can protect gains and will alert SmarTrend subscribers immediately.