The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $40.22.

SMPL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th.

Simply Good Foods Stock Up 0.6 %

SMPL stock opened at $39.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 4.05. Simply Good Foods has a fifty-two week low of $30.00 and a fifty-two week high of $43.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.25. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.67.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 10.46%. The company had revenue of $375.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $373.07 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.41 earnings per share. Simply Good Foods’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Simply Good Foods will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy Richard Kraft sold 76,761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.60, for a total transaction of $2,886,213.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 40,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,506,556.80. This trade represents a 65.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Scalzo sold 2,374 shares of Simply Good Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.23, for a total value of $86,010.02. Following the sale, the director now owns 136,830 shares in the company, valued at $4,957,350.90. The trade was a 1.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 327,869 shares of company stock valued at $12,139,570. Corporate insiders own 10.98% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Simply Good Foods

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Simply Good Foods in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 236.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Simply Good Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 31.9% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in Simply Good Foods in the second quarter worth $159,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.