Short Interest in SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) Decreases By 23.2%

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 814,500 shares, a decrease of 23.2% from the June 30th total of 1,060,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 267,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.0 days. Approximately 2.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of SpartanNash by 58.3% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of SpartanNash in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in SpartanNash by 5,317.6% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 1,808 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 114.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AJOVista LLC purchased a new position in SpartanNash in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.59% of the company’s stock.

SpartanNash Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SPTN traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $20.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 155,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 259,424. SpartanNash has a 12-month low of $17.74 and a 12-month high of $24.51. The company has a market cap of $704.57 million, a P/E ratio of 13.41 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.75. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.20.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.86 billion. SpartanNash had a net margin of 0.56% and a return on equity of 9.22%. The business’s revenue was down 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that SpartanNash will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

SpartanNash Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.218 dividend. This is a boost from SpartanNash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. SpartanNash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on SpartanNash from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 31st.

About SpartanNash

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.