Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) Trading 4.9% Higher on Insider Buying Activity

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO)’s share price traded up 4.9% during trading on Friday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock traded as high as $6.43 and last traded at $6.3750. 2,145,209 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 33% from the average session volume of 3,212,685 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.08.

Specifically, Director Erik D. Ragatz acquired 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.00 per share, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 326,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,959,000. This trade represents a 62.03% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey York bought 120,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.82 per share, with a total value of $698,400.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 120,000 shares in the company, valued at $698,400. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In related news, Director Carey F. Jaros acquired 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.26 per share, for a total transaction of $250,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 76,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $476,173.16. The trade was a 110.91% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down from $18.00) on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $11.00 price target on Grocery Outlet in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered Grocery Outlet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $15.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Grocery Outlet from $10.50 to $7.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.68.

Grocery Outlet Trading Up 5.7%

The stock has a market capitalization of $630.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.81, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Grocery Outlet had a positive return on equity of 5.93% and a negative net margin of 4.80%.Grocery Outlet’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. Grocery Outlet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.450-0.550 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grocery Outlet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GO. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in Grocery Outlet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $177,000. Vancity Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Grocery Outlet by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Vancity Investment Management Ltd now owns 61,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 9,763 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 54.0% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,763,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,216,000 after purchasing an additional 5,528,722 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 106.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,914,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,336,000 after acquiring an additional 987,367 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in Grocery Outlet by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 16,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 2,817 shares during the last quarter. 99.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Grocery Outlet Company Profile

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.