AJOVista LLC Takes $68,000 Position in SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN)

AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in shares of SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of SpartanNash by 78.4% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,332 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in SpartanNash by 132.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 8,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 41.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of SpartanNash during the 4th quarter worth about $238,000. Institutional investors own 84.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William R. Voss sold 16,439 shares of SpartanNash stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.84, for a total transaction of $326,149.76. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $302,520.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SPTN shares. StockNews.com cut shares of SpartanNash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. TheStreet raised SpartanNash from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th.

SpartanNash Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SPTN traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $19.64. 158,684 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 235,431. The business has a fifty day moving average of $19.76 and a 200-day moving average of $21.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $676.99 million, a PE ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.53. SpartanNash has a 1-year low of $18.57 and a 1-year high of $24.51.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. SpartanNash had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 0.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts expect that SpartanNash will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

SpartanNash Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a $0.2175 dividend. This represents a $0.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This is an increase from SpartanNash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. SpartanNash’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

SpartanNash 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.