Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Friday.

SFM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of SFM stock opened at $134.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Sprouts Farmers Market has a twelve month low of $48.49 and a twelve month high of $155.64. The company has a market cap of $13.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $139.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.97.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 11,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.84, for a total transaction of $1,527,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 33,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,459,571.64. This trade represents a 25.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.24, for a total transaction of $4,477,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,454,764.88. The trade was a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 59,855 shares of company stock worth $8,475,575 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Everence Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $231,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,020,000 after purchasing an additional 156,175 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 18.4% in the 3rd quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 25.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 464,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,551,000 after purchasing an additional 95,144 shares in the last quarter.

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.