Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 184,689 Shares of The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Verition Fund Management LLC lessened its holdings in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL - Free Report) by 43.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 240,186 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 184,689 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC owned 0.24% of Simply Good Foods worth $8,351,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in Simply Good Foods by 20.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,128,827 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $178,329,000 after buying an additional 855,070 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,063,878 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $141,301,000 after purchasing an additional 155,894 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Simply Good Foods by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,223,666 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $116,468,000 after purchasing an additional 203,914 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp bought a new stake in shares of Simply Good Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,270,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 14.3% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,474,736 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $53,282,000 after purchasing an additional 184,539 shares during the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SMPL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price 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. Stephens decreased their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Simply Good Foods has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $40.78.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

Shares of Simply Good Foods stock traded up $0.02 on Monday, reaching $39.81. The stock had a trading volume of 599,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 892,053. The business's 50 day moving average is $35.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.08. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 0.64. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 1 year low of $30.00 and a 1 year high of $43.00. The company has a current ratio of 4.05, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $375.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.07 million. Simply Good Foods had a net margin of 10.46% and a return on equity of 10.23%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Simply Good Foods Company will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Timothy Richard Kraft sold 76,761 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 40,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,506,556.80. This represents a 65.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $35.99, for a total transaction of $899,750.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 139,204 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,009,951.96. This represents a 15.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 327,869 shares of company stock worth $12,139,570 over the last ninety days. 10.98% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.