Mizuho Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Mizuho in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Mizuho's price objective points to a potential upside of 55.28% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $42.00 price objective (up from $41.00) on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $46.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Simply Good Foods has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.43.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SMPL stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.20. The company had a trading volume of 1,881,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 918,187. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a current ratio of 5.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.69. Simply Good Foods has a one year low of $30.00 and a one year high of $43.00.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $308.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $309.26 million. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 10.66% and a return on equity of 9.95%. The business's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Simply Good Foods will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Simply Good Foods

In related news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 1,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total value of $42,391.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,084 shares in the company, valued at approximately $852,847.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Simply Good Foods news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 1,048 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.45, for a total transaction of $42,391.60. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 21,084 shares in the company, valued at $852,847.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Susan Hunsberger sold 35,010 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $1,422,456.30. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 30,768 shares in the company, valued at $1,250,103.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 38,558 shares of company stock worth $1,563,248. Company insiders own 10.98% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Simply Good Foods

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,992,510 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $379,461,000 after buying an additional 259,144 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 79.5% during the third quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 57,914 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,999,000 after buying an additional 25,650 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods during the third quarter worth approximately $2,877,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 20,793 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $823,000 after buying an additional 1,453 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 4.0% during the third quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 259,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,958,000 after buying an additional 10,073 shares during the period. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.