The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Shares Bought by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 18.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 358,370 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 55,470 shares during the quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.35% of Simply Good Foods worth $12,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMPL. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the 4th quarter worth approximately $318,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in Simply Good Foods by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 48,458 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,889,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in Simply Good Foods by 119.1% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,861 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Simply Good Foods by 255.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,710 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Finally, Norden Group LLC lifted its position in Simply Good Foods by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 17,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 2,668 shares during the period. 88.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SMPL stock opened at $31.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $34.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.87. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.72. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 1 year low of $31.25 and a 1 year high of $40.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a current ratio of 4.27.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $359.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $354.50 million. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.39% and a net margin of 10.31%. Simply Good Foods's revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SMPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Citigroup reduced their price target on Simply Good Foods from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Simply Good Foods from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $40.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of Simply Good Foods stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total transaction of $186,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $478,252.75. The trade was a 28.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 9.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.

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