The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Shares Bought by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) by 2.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,065,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,876 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.06% of Simply Good Foods worth $36,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SMPL. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Simply Good Foods by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,128,827 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $178,329,000 after purchasing an additional 855,070 shares in the last quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 4.0% in the third quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,063,878 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,301,000 after purchasing an additional 155,894 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 6.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,666,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $127,473,000 after purchasing an additional 208,070 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 6.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,223,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,468,000 after buying an additional 203,914 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Trust Walden Corp acquired a new position in Simply Good Foods during the third quarter worth about $80,270,000. 88.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SMPL. Stephens decreased their price target on Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Simply Good Foods from $46.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Simply Good Foods currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $40.22.

Simply Good Foods Stock Down 1.7 %

SMPL opened at $39.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.30, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.28. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 52 week low of $30.00 and a 52 week high of $43.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.75, a current ratio of 4.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The company had revenue of $375.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $373.07 million. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Simply Good Foods

In other news, CAO Timothy Allen Matthews sold 5,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.31, for a total transaction of $198,675.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,063 shares in the company, valued at $636,620.53. This represents a 23.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joseph Scalzo sold 25,000 shares of Simply Good Foods stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.99, for a total value of $899,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 139,204 shares in the company, valued at $5,009,951.96. The trade was a 15.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 327,869 shares of company stock worth $12,139,570. Insiders own 10.98% of the company’s stock.

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.