Northern Trust Corp Buys 96,593 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 10.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 999,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 96,593 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.99% of Simply Good Foods worth $38,959,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Simply Good Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Simply Good Foods by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 215.6% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SMPL. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Simply Good Foods in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $41.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $41.00.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SMPL opened at $35.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 4.23. The Simply Good Foods Company has a fifty-two week low of $31.25 and a fifty-two week high of $40.53. The stock has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.29 and a 200-day moving average of $36.63.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $186,250.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,839 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $478,252.75. This represents a 28.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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.

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