SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning.

SpartanNash Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SPTN opened at $18.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $622.87 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 0.83. SpartanNash has a 1-year low of $17.30 and a 1-year high of $23.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.57 and a 200 day moving average of $20.09.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. SpartanNash had a net margin of 0.48% and a return on equity of 8.57%. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that SpartanNash will post 1.88 EPS for the current year.

SpartanNash Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.2175 per share. This represents a $0.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. SpartanNash’s payout ratio is 65.41%.

Institutional Trading of SpartanNash

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPTN. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in SpartanNash by 3,585.1% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,685 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in SpartanNash by 64.9% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 709 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in SpartanNash by 64.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,920 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in SpartanNash by 308.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 5,689 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in SpartanNash during the 3rd quarter valued at $211,000. 84.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SpartanNash Company Profile

SpartanNash Company distributes and retails grocery products in the United States of America. It operates through Wholesale and Retail segments. The Wholesale segment offers grocery products and perishable food products, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, delicatessen items, bakery goods, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care, and pharmaceutical products to independent retailers, national accounts, food service distributors, e-commerce providers, and corporate owned retail stores.