Ameriprise Financial Inc. Sells 36,747 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its position in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 9.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 360,054 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 36,747 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of Simply Good Foods worth $14,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Nexpoint Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,753 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $458,000 after acquiring an additional 3,920 shares in the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $9,804,000. Lido Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $251,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Simply Good Foods by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 999,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,959,000 after acquiring an additional 96,593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth about $6,568,000. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SMPL shares. DA Davidson upped their target price on Simply Good Foods from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. UBS Group started coverage on Simply Good Foods in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $41.00.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

SMPL traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $34.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 600,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 925,838. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.76. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.48 billion, a PE ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The Simply Good Foods Company has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $40.53.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $359.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $354.50 million. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 10.40%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Simply Good Foods

In other news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $186,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at $478,252.75. This trade represents a 28.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 9.35% 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.