Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Insider Sells 500 Shares of Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of SFM opened at $97.87 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a PE ratio of 33.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.55. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.46 and a 1 year high of $103.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.53%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SFM shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $89.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.38.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,715,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $690,966,000 after buying an additional 29,362 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,438,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,295,000 after buying an additional 593,600 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,336,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,419,000 after buying an additional 297,067 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,107,000 after buying an additional 973,666 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 411.4% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,538,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,013,000 after buying an additional 1,237,610 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Company 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.