Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) Short Interest Update

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,020,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the March 15th total of 6,430,000 shares. Approximately 7.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,250,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Grocery Outlet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.44.

Insider Buying and Selling at Grocery Outlet

In other Grocery Outlet news, insider Andrea Renee Bortner sold 4,112 shares of Grocery Outlet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $108,268.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,308 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,279.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Andrea Renee Bortner sold 4,112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $108,268.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,279.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 300,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.16, for a total transaction of $7,848,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 107,123 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,802,337.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 506,588 shares of company stock worth $13,367,577 over the last three months. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Grocery Outlet by 58.1% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 762 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in Grocery Outlet by 248.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,399 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet during the first quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its position in Grocery Outlet by 78.7% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. 99.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Grocery Outlet Price Performance

Grocery Outlet stock traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.56. The company had a trading volume of 383,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,246,240. Grocery Outlet has a 1 year low of $23.41 and a 1 year high of $36.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.20.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.02. Grocery Outlet had a net margin of 2.00% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $989.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $982.44 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Grocery Outlet will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

About Grocery Outlet

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.