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

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,520,000 shares, an increase of 5.2% from the May 31st total of 9,050,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Approximately 10.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Grocery Outlet Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of GO opened at $21.49 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.58, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.09. Grocery Outlet has a one year low of $19.73 and a one year high of $36.54.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.02 billion. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.46% and a net margin of 1.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Grocery Outlet will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Luke D. Thompson sold 1,332 shares of Grocery Outlet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.43, for a total transaction of $29,876.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,306 shares in the company, valued at $724,623.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Grocery Outlet news, Director Erik D. Ragatz purchased 100,000 shares of Grocery Outlet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.91 per share, with a total value of $2,091,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 429,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,986,804.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Luke D. Thompson sold 1,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.43, for a total transaction of $29,876.76. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,306 shares in the company, valued at $724,623.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet during the 3rd quarter worth $113,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet during the 1st quarter valued at about $127,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 32,200.0% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 4,830 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the fourth quarter worth about $193,000. 99.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GO shares. Roth Mkm decreased their price target on Grocery Outlet from $27.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Telsey Advisory Group lowered their price target on shares of Grocery Outlet from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 9th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $43.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Grocery Outlet from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.90.

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.