Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Sells 2,000 Shares of Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Joe Fortunato sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.74, for a total value of $333,480.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,696,065.36. This trade represents a 6.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Joe Fortunato also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 5th, Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total transaction of $724,000.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $158.41 on Friday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12 month low of $73.97 and a 12 month high of $178.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $153.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.27. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,554,000 after purchasing an additional 56,652 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,322,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,231,000 after purchasing an additional 168,605 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,139,000 after acquiring an additional 294,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1,033.4% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,476,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,350,000 after buying an additional 1,346,097 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SFM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.79.

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.