Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys 21,600 Shares of Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) by 75.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 50,200 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 21,600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.05% of Grocery Outlet worth $1,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GO. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Grocery Outlet in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 1st quarter worth $127,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 32,200.0% during the 4th 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 period. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 4th quarter worth $193,000. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 1st quarter worth $217,000. 99.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Grocery Outlet Stock Performance

Shares of GO opened at $18.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $20.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.39. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a one year low of $17.46 and a one year high of $32.49. 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 cap of $1.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.09.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.05. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.46% and a net margin of 1.60%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.69 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Grocery Outlet

In other Grocery Outlet news, Director Eric J. Jr. Lindberg sold 100,000 shares of Grocery Outlet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $1,890,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 70,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,340,728.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 300,000 shares of company stock worth $5,617,000. Insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GO. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on Grocery Outlet from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Grocery Outlet from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Grocery Outlet from $27.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut Grocery Outlet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Grocery Outlet has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.75.

Grocery Outlet Profile

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.