Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 10,916 Shares of SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 159,077 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,916 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.47% of SpartanNash worth $3,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SPTN. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its stake in SpartanNash by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 29,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $669,000 after buying an additional 3,650 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management raised its position in shares of SpartanNash by 170.9% during the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 15,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 9,576 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of SpartanNash by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 30,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $674,000 after acquiring an additional 3,882 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in SpartanNash by 3.6% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 16,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 587 shares during the period. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of SpartanNash during the 3rd quarter worth about $438,000. 84.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded SpartanNash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

SpartanNash Price Performance

Shares of SPTN stock opened at $18.58 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.02 and its 200-day moving average is $20.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $627.26 million, a PE ratio of 13.66 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.62. SpartanNash has a 52 week low of $17.74 and a 52 week high of $24.51.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.01. SpartanNash had a net margin of 0.48% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that SpartanNash will post 1.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

SpartanNash Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 23rd were issued a $0.218 dividend. This represents a $0.87 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 23rd. SpartanNash’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.41%.

SpartanNash Company Profile

SpartanNash Company distributes and retails grocery products in the United States of America. It operates through Wholesale and Retail segments. The Wholesale segment offers grocery products and perishable food products, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, delicatessen items, bakery goods, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care, and pharmaceutical products to independent retailers, national accounts, food service distributors, e-commerce providers, and corporate owned retail stores.