Grocery store dealmaking, already up one-third this year, is expected to increase as regional supermarkets seek greater size and heft to compete against non-union, lower-cost rivals.The goal has been to help companies lower their purchasing, marketing, and distribution costs as they increase in size. Cutting costs and gaining size should improve profits in the face of competition from non-union warehouse clubs, specialty grocers and mass merchandisers such as Costco Wholesale Corp , Whole Foods Market Inc Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp .Dealmaking in the grocery sector has jumped 34.2 percent so far this year to $2.6 billion. That marks the busiest year-to-date since 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data."The next few months will be busy because things are busy now. Consolidation of grocers of various forms and sizes is almost certain to continue because it's a microeconomic imperative. Given the growth of supercenters, club stores and various non-union specialty formats," said Scott Moses, managing director and head of food, drug and specialty retail investment banking at Sagent Advisors.
Target Corporation (Target) operates Target general merchandise stores with an assortment of general merchandise and food assortment. Shares of TGT fell by 1.72% or $-0.91/share to $52.14. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $45.28 and as high as $60.97. On average, 7416130 shares of TGT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2360232.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Whole Foods Market) is a natural and organic foods supermarket. Shares of WFM fell by 1.17% or $-0.8/share to $67.71. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $45.38 and as high as $73.33. On average, 2343280 shares of WFM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 968199.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Walmart) operates retail stores. Shares of WMT fell by 2.02% or $-1.2/share to $58.12. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $48.31 and as high as $59.40. On average, 14187500 shares of WMT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 7096527.
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