Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) Shares Up 5.7% on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) shot up 5.7% during trading on Tuesday after DA Davidson raised their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $35.00. DA Davidson currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Simply Good Foods traded as high as $36.26 and last traded at $36.20. 451,672 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 919,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.25.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on SMPL. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Monday, April 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $34.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up previously from $41.00) on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Simply Good Foods from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Simply Good Foods presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMPL. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 121.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 833 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 103.1% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Simply Good Foods during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 59,100.0% during the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.45% of the company’s stock.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.80.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.01. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 10.12%. Analysts predict that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.