SYDNEY, June 30, 2026, 09:03 AEST
- Coles Group Ltd ASX:COL finished Monday at A$24.36, slipping 0.2%. The stock hit A$24.59 during the session, which TradingView shows as its record high.
- Shares ended about 5% over the 15-analyst average target. Monday’s trading was light, with volume coming in 35% under Google’s average.
- The ACCC will begin checking prices at Coles and Woolworths Group Ltd ASX:WOW from July 1 as new rules on excessive pricing kick in.
The Australian Securities Exchange was still in pre-open at dateline, with regular Sydney trading set for 9:59 a.m. through 4:00 p.m. S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) futures picked up 3 points, or 0.03%, according to MarketIndex, after the index rose 59.20 points, or 0.68%, to finish at 8,823.40 on Monday.
Coles opened Tuesday trading just under 1% off Monday’s top of A$24.59. The stock didn’t keep that high at the finish, closing at A$24.36 after moving between A$24.20 and A$24.59.
What matters for investors is how it happened. Google Finance said 1.97 million Coles shares changed hands on Monday. That’s less than the 3.03 million average volume. Coles hit a record price, but trading wasn’t heavy.
Here’s how the trade looked, according to the latest data:
| Measure | Latest data | Investor read |
|---|---|---|
| Monday close | A$24.36 | Shares slipped 0.2% |
| Monday intraday range | A$24.20-A$24.59 | Matched last year’s high at the top |
| Monday volume | 1.97 mln shares | Volume ran about 35% lighter than Google’s average |
| Market value | A$32.72 bln | Big money keeps holding on the major staples |
| P/E ratio | 32.22 | Valuation leaves little margin for error |
| 15-analyst average target | A$23.21 | Stock trades about 5% higher than consensus |
| High analyst target | A$25.50 | 4.7% above where it finished Monday |
The valuation case isn’t subtle. Investing.com says the average 12-month target from 15 analysts is A$23.21, with the highest at A$25.50 and the lowest at A$16.50. There’s not much upside protection here for a grocery chain now facing more price pressure.
The new risk sits off the chart. The ACCC says its excessive-pricing ban targets big supermarket chains with over A$30 billion in yearly revenue, so that only covers Coles and Woolworths for now. There’s no set line for what counts as an excessive price. The regulator will check supply costs and what it calls a “reasonable margin.” ACCC
ACCC Acting Chair Catriona Lowe said grocery prices are still a “key concern for households.” The regulator plans to start by monitoring pricing data from Coles and Woolworths, and later will select focus products based on consumer and supplier reports, plus supermarket data. ACCC
For Coles, the talk around prices is now shifting to a focus on earnings. The company in February posted first-half sales revenue of A$23.62 billion, up 2.5%, with group EBIT before special items at A$1.23 billion, up 10.2%. The supermarkets arm showed 6.1% adjusted sales growth when excluding tobacco and reported EBIT growth of 14.6%.
Coles CEO Leah Weckert said at the time the group had a “strong balance sheet and cash flow generation”. Now the market is pressing on how much of that strength will hold up as prices and margins come under pressure.
The peer screen isn’t just one-way. MarketIndex’s new ASX 200 52-week high list, using Friday’s numbers, put Woolworths ahead of Coles for both the past week and the year, despite both being in the staples basket.
| Stock | Friday close | Sector | 1 week | 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolworths Group Ltd ASX:WOW | A$40.24 | Staples | up 5.0% | up 28.8% |
| Coles Group Ltd ASX:COL | A$24.41 | Staples | gained 3.2% | rose 16.9% |
The screen shows investors are buying supermarket earnings, but prices aren’t moving together. MarketIndex’s list showed two staples names at new 52-week highs and one at a 52-week low, so the bid hasn’t picked up the whole sector.
First up Tuesday is the A$24.20 to A$24.59 range from Monday. Dropping to the A$23.21 average target would mean a fall of around 4.7% versus Monday’s close. On the other side, hitting the A$25.50 high target would boost shares by about 4.7%.
