Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys Shares of 41,653 The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 41,653 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,437,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Simply Good Foods by 25.2% during the first quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 1,240,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,785,000 after purchasing an additional 250,000 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Simply Good Foods during the 1st quarter worth approximately $712,000. Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Simply Good Foods by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 358,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,358,000 after buying an additional 44,622 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 255,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,819,000 after buying an additional 1,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Simply Good Foods by 3,023.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 54,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,894,000 after buying an additional 53,150 shares during the period. 88.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simply Good Foods

In other news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total value of $186,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 9.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SMPL. Mizuho upped their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Simply Good Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $41.00 price objective for the company. Three investment 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.29.

Simply Good Foods Stock Performance

Shares of SMPL opened at $32.78 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 4.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 52-week low of $31.25 and a 52-week high of $40.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.72.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.06. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 10.31% and a return on equity of 10.39%. The business had revenue of $359.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $354.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.