Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) Short Interest Up 15.6% in December

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,250,000 shares, an increase of 15.6% from the December 15th total of 8,000,000 shares. Currently, 10.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 2,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered Grocery Outlet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Grocery Outlet in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Roth Mkm dropped their price target on shares of Grocery Outlet from $20.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Craig Hallum reduced their price objective on shares of Grocery Outlet from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Grocery Outlet from $17.00 to $15.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.00.

Insider Activity

In other Grocery Outlet news, Director Erik D. Ragatz acquired 110,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.25 per share, with a total value of $2,007,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 539,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,851,076.25. This represents a 25.59 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grocery Outlet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GO. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Grocery Outlet by 1,224.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 300,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,271,000 after acquiring an additional 277,706 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Grocery Outlet by 357.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 519,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,118,000 after purchasing an additional 406,039 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Grocery Outlet by 887.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 105,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 94,969 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Grocery Outlet in the third quarter valued at about $511,000. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Grocery Outlet in the third quarter valued at about $2,507,000. 99.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Grocery Outlet Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ GO traded down $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $15.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,224,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,304,697. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 0.31. Grocery Outlet has a 1-year low of $13.60 and a 1-year high of $29.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $17.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $17.96.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.10 billion. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Grocery Outlet will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.