Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 56,652 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,652 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.61% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $1,347,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 20,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the last quarter. Unified Investment Management bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,348,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,517,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on SFM. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $148.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.61 and a twelve month high of $178.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $151.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. As a group, analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 11,283 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.13, for a total value of $1,614,935.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,968,762.75. This trade represents a 16.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total transaction of $143,743.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,830 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,755.10. This trade represents a 9.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 94,784 shares of company stock valued at $13,231,786. 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.