Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $41.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.88% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SMPL. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Thursday, April 11th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Mizuho reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.86.

Simply Good Foods Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ SMPL opened at $35.69 on Friday. Simply Good Foods has a 12 month low of $30.00 and a 12 month high of $43.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 4.20 and a quick ratio of 3.09.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 10.12%. The firm had revenue of $312.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.57 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Simply Good Foods will post 1.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director James D. White sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $649,920.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 10.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Simply Good Foods

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,099,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $377,711,000 after buying an additional 174,157 shares during the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 27.7% in the first quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,939,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $134,061,000 after acquiring an additional 854,550 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,892,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $114,535,000 after purchasing an additional 82,235 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 17.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 281,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 1,313,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,682,000 after purchasing an additional 90,154 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.45% of the company’s stock.

About Simply Good Foods

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.