Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) Shares Gap Up to $36.16

The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $36.16, but opened at $38.27. Simply Good Foods shares last traded at $36.53, with a volume of 132,213 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SMPL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson boosted their price objective 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. Mizuho reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.86.

Simply Good Foods Trading Up 1.2 %

The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.71 and its 200-day moving average is $36.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 5.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 11.49% and a return on equity of 10.28%. The firm had revenue of $312.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.57 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Simply Good Foods

In other Simply Good Foods news, Director James D. White sold 4,000 shares of the business’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 directly owns 17,027 shares in the company, valued at $649,920.59. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 10.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Simply Good Foods

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SMPL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,991,000. Champlain Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 854,550 shares during the period. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $20,242,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Simply Good Foods by 17.1% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,992,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,461,000 after buying an additional 259,144 shares in the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.