Heartland Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. $GO

Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 661,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,606,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GO. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 1,030.4% during the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 2,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 2,308 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Grocery Outlet in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet in the first quarter valued at about $71,000. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 96.9% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,000 after acquiring an additional 3,880 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on GO. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Grocery Outlet from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Grocery Outlet

In related news, insider Paul Blaine Miller bought 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $10.90 per share, with a total value of $87,200.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 72,171 shares in the company, valued at $786,663.90. This represents a 12.47% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have acquired a total of 23,000 shares of company stock worth $228,400 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Grocery Outlet Trading Up 4.4%

GO opened at $11.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.00, a PEG ratio of 8.94 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. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.90 and its 200-day moving average is $8.71. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.19 billion during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grocery Outlet 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.