Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $159.00 price objective for the company. Barclays raised Sprouts Farmers Market from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $173.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $180.00 target price on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.73.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM opened at $128.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $150.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $155.42. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52-week low of $101.80 and a 52-week high of $182.00. The company has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.87.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.12. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 36.53% and a net margin of 5.77%.The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sprouts Farmers Market has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.200-5.320 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.120-1.160 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sprouts Farmers Market declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 19th that allows the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 7,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.95, for a total value of $1,000,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 16,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,271,693.55. The trade was a 30.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.57, for a total value of $1,475,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,680,461.48. The trade was a 35.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 39,561 shares of company stock valued at $5,828,401. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SFM. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 17,591 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,233,000 after buying an additional 4,809 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 66,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,417,000 after buying an additional 1,726 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 664,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,492,000 after buying an additional 75,312 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 484.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,243 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,683,000 after buying an additional 10,979 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 33,759 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,290,000 after buying an additional 9,579 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.