Short Interest in SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) Expands By 21.8%

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, an increase of 21.8% from the January 31st total of 919,300 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 284,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days. Approximately 3.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On SpartanNash

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in SpartanNash by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,250,372 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,547,000 after purchasing an additional 57,458 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 25.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,243,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,781,000 after acquiring an additional 249,616 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,042,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,093,000 after acquiring an additional 129,907 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 977,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,906,000 after acquiring an additional 20,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in SpartanNash by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 496,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,093,000 after acquiring an additional 8,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.59% of the company’s stock.

SpartanNash Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of SPTN stock opened at $19.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $670.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,987.00 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $18.81 and a 200-day moving average of $19.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. SpartanNash has a 1-year low of $17.30 and a 1-year high of $23.00.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.09. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SpartanNash will post 1.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Northcoast Research downgraded SpartanNash from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com cut SpartanNash from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th.

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.