Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Buys 210,782 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company $SMPL

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors increased its stake in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) by 5.9% in the first quarter, owning approximately 3.73% of the company valued at $129.8 million.
• CEO Geoff E. Tanner bought 6,050 shares of Simply Good Foods stock, increasing his ownership by 6.57%, with a total value of about $3.25 million.
• Analysts' price targets for SMPL shares show a range from $38.00 to $45.00, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $39.88.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,764,646 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 210,782 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 3.73% of Simply Good Foods worth $129,841,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SMPL. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 9,890 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $386,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 45,685 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,781,000 after acquiring an additional 15,275 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth $1,863,000. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 180,796 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,047,000 after acquiring an additional 15,595 shares during the period. Finally, Mariner LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter worth $288,000. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SMPL. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $45.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Simply Good Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 21st. Finally, UBS Group set a $36.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $39.88.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SMPL traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $29.12. The stock had a trading volume of 612,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,255,430. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.97. The Simply Good Foods Company has a one year low of $28.14 and a one year high of $40.53. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 3.95, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Simply Good Foods

In other news, CEO Geoff E. Tanner acquired 6,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $33.11 per share, with a total value of $200,315.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 98,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,251,070.90. The trade was a 6.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Simply Good Foods 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.