Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Holdings in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. $GO

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 223,163 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,227,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.23% of Grocery Outlet as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 1,030.4% during the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 2,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Grocery Outlet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its position in Grocery Outlet by 96.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price target on Grocery Outlet from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $7.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Roth Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $10.00 target price on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. 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. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $10.59.

Insider Activity at Grocery Outlet

In related news, insider Paul Miller purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.37 per share, with a total value of $93,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 59,171 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $554,432.27. The trade was a 20.34% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Carey Jaros acquired 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was bought at an average price of $11.70 per share, for a total transaction of $175,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 60,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have purchased 38,000 shares of company stock valued at $403,900. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Grocery Outlet Stock Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:GO opened at $12.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $10.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.87. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a 1-year low of $5.66 and a 1-year high of $18.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.20, a PEG ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.72.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. Grocery Outlet had a negative net margin of 8.04% and a positive return on equity of 5.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.42 EPS for the current year.

About Grocery Outlet

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.