The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $287,000 Stock Holdings in Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its position in shares of Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:GO) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,361 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Grocery Outlet were worth $287,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GO. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Grocery Outlet in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Grocery Outlet by 276.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Grocery Outlet by 62.7% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,736 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 472.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 4,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Grocery Outlet by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 5,808 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 2,034 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.87% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GO shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Grocery Outlet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $18.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Grocery Outlet from $20.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Grocery Outlet from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Grocery Outlet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $12.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Grocery Outlet from $14.00 to $11.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Grocery Outlet presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.62.

Grocery Outlet Stock Performance

Shares of GO opened at $14.22 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $14.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has a 12 month low of $10.26 and a 12 month high of $23.25. The company has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.42.

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.06. Grocery Outlet had a return on equity of 5.25% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.09 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Lindsay E. Gray sold 2,741 shares of Grocery Outlet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.34, for a total value of $31,082.94. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 41,448 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,020.32. The trade was a 6.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Christopher M. Miller acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.68 per share, with a total value of $116,800.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,800. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 219,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,709,790 and sold 17,756 shares valued at $216,892. 4.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.