Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Raises Stake in SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in shares of SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) by 56.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 33,225 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 12,049 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in SpartanNash were worth $763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SPTN. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SpartanNash during the third quarter worth about $448,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of SpartanNash by 203.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 60,117 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,323,000 after buying an additional 40,299 shares in the last quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC purchased a new stake in shares of SpartanNash during the third quarter worth about $222,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of SpartanNash by 41.3% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,000 after buying an additional 2,637 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of SpartanNash during the third quarter worth about $274,000. 84.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

SpartanNash Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of SPTN stock opened at $19.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.73. SpartanNash has a fifty-two week low of $18.57 and a fifty-two week high of $24.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $665.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 0.52.

SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). SpartanNash had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 0.54%. The firm had revenue of $2.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.2175 per share. This is a boost from SpartanNash’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.87 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. SpartanNash’s payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director William R. Voss sold 16,439 shares of SpartanNash stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.84, for a total value of $326,149.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 15,248 shares in the company, valued at $302,520.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.