Trexquant Investment LP Acquires 94,516 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Trexquant Investment LP grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 696.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,084 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 94,516 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned approximately 0.11% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $5,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Baldwin Brothers LLC MA increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 1,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at $5,125,414.35. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $1,367,484.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,513.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,125,414.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 210,567 shares of company stock worth $13,722,524. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America raised Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.25.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $79.17 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $67.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.04. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.12 and a 1-year high of $79.77. The firm has a market cap of $7.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.50.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 26.77% and a net margin of 4.25%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Sprouts Farmers Market Profile

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the retailing of fresh, natural, and organic food products under the Sprouts brand in the United States. It offers perishable product categories, including fresh produce, meat and meat alternatives, seafood, deli, bakery, floral, and dairy and dairy alternatives; and non-perishable product categories, such as grocery, vitamins and supplements, bulk items, frozen foods, beer and wine, and natural health and body care.