Blue Trust Inc. Has $690,000 Stock Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 69.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,429 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,216 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter worth $13,348,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter worth $3,252,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 5.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 983,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,561,000 after purchasing an additional 48,103 shares during the period. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,517,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SFM shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 1.8 %

SFM stock opened at $155.11 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $142.20 and a 200-day moving average of $120.49. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.81 and a fifty-two week high of $155.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 28.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph L. Hurley sold 4,956 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.66, for a total transaction of $657,462.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,184 shares in the company, valued at $1,483,669.44. This represents a 30.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total transaction of $757,676.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,463,777.60. This represents a 2.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 61,869 shares of company stock worth $8,778,152. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market 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.