Norges Bank Makes New $44.01 Million Investment in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in The Simply Good Foods Company (NASDAQ:SMPL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,128,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $44,006,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.12% of Simply Good Foods at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,666,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $127,473,000 after purchasing an additional 208,070 shares during the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in Simply Good Foods by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 3,031,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,171,000 after acquiring an additional 722,963 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Simply Good Foods by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,142,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,515,000 after acquiring an additional 10,477 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Simply Good Foods by 109.0% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,221,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,287,000 after purchasing an additional 637,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Simply Good Foods by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,065,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,402,000 after purchasing an additional 28,876 shares during the last quarter. 88.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SMPL. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Simply Good Foods from $48.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Simply Good Foods in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.56.

Simply Good Foods Price Performance

Simply Good Foods stock opened at $33.85 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.75 and a current ratio of 4.23. The Simply Good Foods Company has a 1 year low of $31.25 and a 1 year high of $40.53. The company has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.63.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ:SMPL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.06. Simply Good Foods had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 10.40%. The company had revenue of $341.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.32 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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.