Insider Selling: Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) EVP Sells 3,785 Shares of Stock

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) EVP Luke Thompson sold 3,785 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.84, for a total transaction of $22,104.40. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 35,523 shares in the company, valued at approximately $207,454.32. This represents a 9.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Grocery Outlet Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of GO traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.32. The stock had a trading volume of 5,243,429 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,982,381. The company has a market cap of $620.31 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.76, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.45. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a 1-year low of $5.66 and a 1-year high of $19.41. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. Grocery Outlet had a positive return on equity of 5.93% and a negative net margin of 4.80%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. Grocery Outlet has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.450-0.550 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Grocery Outlet

Here are the key news stories impacting Grocery Outlet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Director insider buy — Director John E. Bachman purchased 16,000 shares at ~$6.46, increasing his stake ~28%, a commonly viewed signal of insider confidence. Director Acquires $103,360.00 in Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 coverage and rising market interest — Articles highlighting Grocery Outlet as a Q4 earnings outperformer and reporting increased market interest can attract momentum buyers and improve short?term liquidity. Q4 earnings outperformers Market Interest Rises
• Neutral Sentiment: Large institutional ownership — Major funds (T. Rowe Price, Vanguard, others) hold sizable positions, which can support liquidity but also amplify moves if institutions rebalance. (Background filings/aggregate reporting)
• Negative Sentiment: Law firm investigation — Levi & Korsinsky announced an investigation into possible securities?law violations related to prior guidance adjustments (reference to a narrowed FY2025 comps outlook), increasing litigation risk and investor uncertainty. Ongoing Investigation Notice
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrades and “Reduce” consensus — Several firms cut ratings/targets (consensus shown as “Reduce”), which can pressure the stock via lower targets and negative headlines. Given Average Rating of Reduce Analyst Scrutiny on Consumer Trends
• Negative Sentiment: Earnings and guidance headwinds — Latest quarter showed a slight EPS and revenue miss and management set conservative FY2026 EPS guidance (0.45–0.55), below some analyst expectations, highlighting margin pressure and limited near?term upside. (Company earnings disclosures/aggregate reporting)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on GO shares. Craig Hallum lowered shares of Grocery Outlet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research lowered Grocery Outlet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Telsey Advisory Group cut Grocery Outlet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $15.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $7.00 target price (down from $18.00) on shares of Grocery Outlet in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $11.50 target price on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Grocery Outlet has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.68.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GO. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 54.0% in 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 buying an additional 5,528,722 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,255,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,685,000 after buying an additional 213,325 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,709,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,757,000 after buying an additional 22,418 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,619,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,149,000 after acquiring an additional 221,693 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,577,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,467,000 after acquiring an additional 20,819 shares during the period. 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.