The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) Stake Cut by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 32.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 998,706 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 476,030 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.99% of Simply Good Foods worth $34,725,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Simply Good Foods by 236.4% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,766 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods in the second quarter valued at approximately $71,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,084 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of Simply Good Foods during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $159,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.45% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Timothy Richard Kraft sold 76,761 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.60, for a total value of $2,886,213.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 40,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,506,556.80. The trade was a 65.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Timothy Allen Matthews sold 5,325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.31, for a total transaction of $198,675.75. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,063 shares in the company, valued at $636,620.53. The trade was a 23.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 327,869 shares of company stock worth $12,139,570 in the last quarter. 9.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens reduced their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Simply Good Foods from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.22.

Simply Good Foods Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ SMPL traded up $0.45 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 173,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 886,008. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 4.05 and a quick ratio of 2.75. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 52-week low of $30.00 and a 52-week high of $43.00. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $37.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.30.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The company had revenue of $375.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.07 million. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.23% and a net margin of 10.46%. The company's revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.77 EPS 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.