Vanguard Group Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,925,194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 67,316 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of Simply Good Foods worth $432,638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SMPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $39,991,000. Boston Partners bought a new position in Simply Good Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $20,242,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Simply Good Foods by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,930,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,457,000 after buying an additional 281,603 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Simply Good Foods in the fourth quarter worth about $4,878,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its stake in Simply Good Foods by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,222,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,425,000 after buying an additional 105,912 shares in the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Simply Good Foods

In related news, Director James D. White sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.17, for a total transaction of $152,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 17,027 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $649,920.59. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMPL opened at $36.16 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 3.09 and a current ratio of 4.20. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.69. The Simply Good Foods Company has a fifty-two week low of $30.00 and a fifty-two week high of $43.00.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $312.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.57 million. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 10.12%. Analysts expect that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Simply Good Foods from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Simply Good Foods has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.86.

Simply Good Foods Profile

The Simply Good Foods Company operates as a consumer-packaged food and beverage company in North America and internationally. The company develops, markets, and sells snacks and meal replacements. It offers protein bars, ready-to-drink shakes, sweet and salty snacks, cookies, protein chips, and recipes under the Atkins and Quest brand names.