Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Sells $241,920.00 in Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Hari K. Avula sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.28, for a total value of $241,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,232 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,650,216.96. The trade was a 12.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SFM opened at $168.68 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. The company has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.86, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.15 and a 52 week high of $178.99. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $155.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.67.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% during the 4th 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 period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,161,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 181,364 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,046,000 after acquiring an additional 37,637 shares during the period. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 145.8% during the 4th quarter. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 20,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,585,000 after acquiring an additional 12,067 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 56,652 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Roth Capital set a $155.00 target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.79.

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.