Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. Cuts Position in The Simply Good Foods Company $SMPL

Key Points

• Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. has reduced its position in The Simply Good Foods Company by 23.9%, resulting in ownership of 2,900,807 shares valued at approximately $100 million.
• Several hedge funds have increased their stakes or initiated new positions, with 88.45% of Simply Good Foods' stock being owned by institutional investors.
• Wall Street analysts have varied outlooks on Simply Good Foods, with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.88.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 23.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,900,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 910,321 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned about 2.87% of Simply Good Foods worth $100,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 18.3% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,195,497 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $144,703,000 after purchasing an additional 649,258 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 52.1% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,539,208 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $53,087,000 after purchasing an additional 527,089 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 3,306.7% in the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 460,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,963,000 after purchasing an additional 447,300 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Simply Good Foods in the first quarter worth $14,509,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Simply Good Foods in the first quarter worth $14,151,000. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Simply Good Foods

In related news, CEO Geoff E. Tanner purchased 6,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $33.11 per share, with a total value of $200,315.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,251,070.90. This represents a 6.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 9.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SMPL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Simply Good Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.88.

Simply Good Foods Trading Up 0.5%

SMPL stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $28.84. The company had a trading volume of 768,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,239,687. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 52 week low of $28.14 and a 52 week high of $40.53. The company has a market cap of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.55 and a 200 day moving average of $34.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 3.95 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.01. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 9.97% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $380,956 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Simply Good Foods's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.