Weiss Asset Management LP Makes New Investment in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 346,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,051,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 6.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,666,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $127,473,000 after buying an additional 208,070 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 26,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 64.7% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 3.9% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 89.4% in the third quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 64,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 30,416 shares in the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SMPL. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Simply Good Foods from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Stephens decreased their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Simply Good Foods has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simply Good Foods

In related news, Director Joseph Scalzo sold 25,000 shares of Simply Good Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.99, for a total transaction of $899,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 139,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,009,951.96. This trade represents a 15.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Brian K. Ratzan sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.38, for a total value of $1,869,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,049,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,606,086.06. This trade represents a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 327,869 shares of company stock valued at $12,139,570 in the last quarter. 10.98% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Simply Good Foods Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SMPL opened at $39.02 on Friday. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 52-week low of $30.00 and a 52-week high of $43.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 4.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.17.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 10.46%. The firm had revenue of $375.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $373.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Simply Good Foods Company 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.