James H. Bahrenburg Sells 307 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) CTO James H. Bahrenburg sold 307 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.42, for a total value of $42,801.94. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 13,459 shares in the company, valued at $1,876,453.78. The trade was a 2.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ SFM opened at $142.39 on Friday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $61.61 and a one year high of $178.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $13.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.75.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. Equities analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 20,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after acquiring an additional 7,355 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during 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 during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter worth $13,348,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth $1,517,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SFM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

About Sprouts Farmers Market

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.