T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Sells 237,015 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,059,913 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 237,015 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 5.01% of Simply Good Foods worth $197,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 55,123 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,149,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Simply Good Foods by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,553,864 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $138,528,000 after purchasing an additional 90,444 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 82.3% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 22,370 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $872,000 after buying an additional 10,100 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 87,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,391,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rench Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Simply Good Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $390,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.45% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $478,252.75. This represents a 28.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SMPL. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of 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. Mizuho boosted their target price on Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Simply Good Foods from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

SMPL stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 293,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 924,250. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 12 month low of $31.25 and a 12 month high of $40.53. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average of $35.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.51.

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