Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at Melius Research

Melius Research initiated coverage on shares of Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GO. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Grocery Outlet from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $27.00 to $21.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Telsey Advisory Group cut their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an overweight rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Craig Hallum cut Grocery Outlet from a buy rating to a hold rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.11.

Grocery Outlet Stock Up 5.1 %

Grocery Outlet stock opened at $17.08 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Grocery Outlet has a 1-year low of $15.72 and a 1-year high of $29.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $18.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.05.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.18% and a net margin of 1.30%. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Grocery Outlet will post 0.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 200,095 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.29, for a total transaction of $3,259,547.55. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 70,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,155,580.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Grocery Outlet news, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 100,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 70,938 shares in the company, valued at $1,340,728.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 200,095 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.29, for a total value of $3,259,547.55. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 70,938 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,155,580.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 500,095 shares of company stock valued at $8,876,548 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grocery Outlet

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GO. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 73.8% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 475,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,515,000 after buying an additional 201,881 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 54.0% during the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after acquiring an additional 105,160 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 677.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,981,558 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726,741 shares during the last quarter. Solel Partners LP purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,980,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 80.9% in the 2nd quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 285,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,322,000 after buying an additional 127,812 shares during the period. 99.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Grocery Outlet Company Profile

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.