Insider Buying: Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) Director Acquires $175,500.00 in Stock

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) Director Carey Jaros bought 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $11.70 per share, for a total transaction of $175,500.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $702,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Grocery Outlet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GO traded down $0.22 on Monday, hitting $11.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,245,574 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,938,262. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.46 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 1.29. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a 12 month low of $5.66 and a 12 month high of $18.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.80.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. Grocery Outlet had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 5.84%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.42 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $9.00 price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Grocery Outlet from $10.00 to $11.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.59.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grocery Outlet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 87.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,726,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,536,000 after acquiring an additional 1,272,859 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,083,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,639,000 after acquiring an additional 258,292 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,255,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,685,000 after purchasing an additional 213,325 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP lifted its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 262.2% in the 4th quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 645,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,516,000 after purchasing an additional 467,019 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Grocery Outlet by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,816,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,449,000 after purchasing an additional 173,308 shares during the period. 99.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: GO) is a specialty discount retailer that offers consumers deeply discounted groceries by purchasing excess inventory, closeouts, and overstocks from manufacturers and distributors. Headquartered in Emeryville, California, the company operates two primary banners—Grocery Outlet and Fresh2Go—with a combined footprint of more than 400 stores. Its product assortment spans fresh produce, meat, dairy, bakery items, household staples, natural and organic offerings, and select specialty products, all sold at significant markdowns compared to conventional supermarkets.

The company’s unique buying model enables it to source inventory through opportunistic purchases of surplus freight, discontinued items, and closeout deals, which it then passes on as savings to its customers.