TD Cowen Begins Coverage on Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO)

Equities researchers at TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) in a research note issued on Friday, Zacks reports. The brokerage set a “hold” rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on GO. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Grocery Outlet from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Grocery Outlet from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $12.50 to $15.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $10.00 to $11.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.50.

Grocery Outlet Stock Performance

Shares of GO opened at $12.93 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.57. Grocery Outlet has a 52-week low of $5.66 and a 52-week high of $14.49. The firm has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.34, a PEG ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.07. Grocery Outlet had a positive return on equity of 5.84% and a negative net margin of 8.04%. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Grocery Outlet will post 0.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Miller bought 8,000 shares of the 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 purchase, the insider owned 72,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $786,663.90. This represents a 12.47% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Carey F. Jaros purchased 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.70 per share, for a total transaction of $175,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at $702,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its holdings in Grocery Outlet by 103.3% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 2,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet in the second quarter worth approximately $40,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet in the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter valued at $58,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Grocery Outlet by 165.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,599 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 5,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.87% of the company’s stock.

About Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. operates a network of independently operated, extreme-value grocery stores under the Grocery Outlet banner. The company offers a broad assortment of products, including fresh produce, meat, dairy, deli items, frozen foods, packaged groceries, beverages, health and beauty products, household essentials and seasonal merchandise.

Its business model is based on opportunistic purchasing, allowing Grocery Outlet to source branded and private-label products from manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers when they are available through closeouts, surplus inventory, packaging changes, production overruns or other special buying opportunities.