Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Sells $776,710.10 in Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Joe Fortunato sold 7,895 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.38, for a total value of $776,710.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 45,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,434,084.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

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

• On Tuesday, May 21st, Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.48, for a total transaction of $392,400.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of SFM opened at $97.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.10 and a 1-year high of $103.80. The stock has a market cap of $9.78 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.44.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 27.53% and a net margin of 4.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFM has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $89.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.38.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 223.5% in the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000.

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.