The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 2,457 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,457 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Simply Good Foods were worth $1,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 45,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,781,000 after acquiring an additional 15,275 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 255.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 1,229 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC raised its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC now owns 141,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,512,000 after acquiring an additional 45,738 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 396.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 165,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,744,000 after acquiring an additional 131,939 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 215.6% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,201 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.45% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Simply Good Foods

In other news, SVP Stuart E. Jr. Heflin sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.25, for a total transaction of $186,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,839 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $478,252.75. This trade represents a 28.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on SMPL shares. Mizuho lifted their target price 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. 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 research report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on Simply Good Foods in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $41.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.00.

Simply Good Foods Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SMPL opened at $35.87 on Monday. 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 $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.69.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $359.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $354.50 million. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 10.40% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current 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.