Frank Michael Kerr Sells 1,432 Shares of Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) Stock

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) insider Frank Michael Kerr sold 1,432 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.30, for a total transaction of $16,181.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 54,342 shares in the company, valued at $614,064.60. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Grocery Outlet Price Performance

GO stock opened at $12.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of -3.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a 1 year low of $5.66 and a 1 year high of $19.23.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grocery Outlet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Carlson Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 63.5% in the second quarter. Carlson Financial Inc. now owns 16,766 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 6,510 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 554.2% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,031,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,373,000 after buying an additional 873,975 shares during the last quarter. AXQ Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 51,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 11,881 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,894,000. Finally, Grandeur Peak Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Grocery Outlet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,347,000. 99.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GO. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $10.00 to $11.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Grocery Outlet from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

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.