661,900 Shares in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. $GO Bought by Heartland Advisors Inc.

Heartland Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 661,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,606,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned 0.67% of Grocery Outlet at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 1,030.4% in the fourth quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 2,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Grocery Outlet in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Grocery Outlet in the 1st quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its stake in Grocery Outlet by 96.9% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 7,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 3,880 shares during the last quarter. 99.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Blaine Miller purchased 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $9.37 per share, with a total value of $93,700.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 59,171 shares in the company, valued at $554,432.27. The trade was a 20.34% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last quarter, insiders have bought 23,000 shares of company stock valued at $228,400. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GO shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Grocery Outlet from $10.00 to $11.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Grocery Outlet from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $10.59.

Grocery Outlet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GO opened at $11.60 on Friday. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a one year low of $5.66 and a one year high of $19.23. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.00, a P/E/G ratio of 8.94 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.17 billion. Grocery Outlet had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 5.84%. The company’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Grocery Outlet 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.