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

The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)’s share price was up 5.7% 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. Approximately 451,672 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 919,958 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.25.

SMPL has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Simply Good Foods from $48.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $42.00 price target (up from $41.00) on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Simply Good Foods from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Simply Good Foods in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $40.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 27.4% in the first quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 13,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 2,899 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Simply Good Foods by 171.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 214,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,302,000 after buying an additional 135,465 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Simply Good Foods in the first quarter valued at $286,000. Norden Group LLC increased its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 36.2% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 13,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 3,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McCollum Christoferson Group LLC increased its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 2.8% during the first quarter. McCollum Christoferson Group LLC now owns 135,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,615,000 after purchasing an additional 3,635 shares in the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

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

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