TD Cowen Downgrades Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) to Hold

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) was downgraded by research analysts at TD Cowen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, FinViz reports. They currently have a $16.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $25.00. TD Cowen’s price target suggests a potential upside of 9.89% from the company’s current price.

GO has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Grocery Outlet from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Capital raised Grocery Outlet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Grocery Outlet from $27.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Grocery Outlet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $17.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Grocery Outlet has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.91.

Grocery Outlet Stock Performance

Shares of GO stock opened at $14.56 on Wednesday. Grocery Outlet has a 52-week low of $13.60 and a 52-week high of $29.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.84.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.18% and a net margin of 1.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Grocery Outlet will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $1,890,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 70,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,340,728.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $1,890,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,340,728.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 200,095 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.29, for a total value of $3,259,547.55. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 70,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,580.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 500,095 shares of company stock worth $8,876,548. 4.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Grocery Outlet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Grocery Outlet by 281.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,579,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,641,016 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Grocery Outlet by 677.6% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,981,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,832,000 after buying an additional 1,726,741 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 505.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 51,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 43,358 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 137.5% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 197,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,378,000 after acquiring an additional 114,576 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.87% of the company’s stock.

About Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. operates as a retailer of consumables and fresh products sold through independently operated stores in the United States. Its stores offer products in various categories, such as dairy and deli, produce, floral, fresh meat, seafood products, grocery, general merchandise, health and beauty care, frozen food, beer and wine, and ethnic products.