The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Short Interest Down 20.1% in October

The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,130,000 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the October 15th total of 5,170,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 853,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.8 days. Approximately 4.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SMPL opened at $37.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.15 and a 200-day moving average of $34.95. Simply Good Foods has a one year low of $30.00 and a one year high of $43.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 4.05 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a PE ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.64.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 firm had revenue of $375.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $373.07 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Simply Good Foods will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMPL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens dropped their target price on shares of Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.78.

Insider Activity at Simply Good Foods

In related news, Director Brian K. Ratzan sold 50,000 shares of Simply Good Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.38, for a total value of $1,869,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,049,387 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $76,606,086.06. The trade was a 2.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Timothy Allen Matthews sold 5,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.31, for a total transaction of $198,675.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $636,620.53. This represents a 23.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 251,108 shares of company stock worth $9,253,356 in the last quarter. 10.98% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods in the third quarter worth approximately $2,368,000. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Simply Good Foods during the third quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the third quarter worth $338,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in Simply Good Foods by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 13,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cynosure Group LLC now owns 10,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.45% of the company’s stock.

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.