Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on SFM. Bank of America raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight equities 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, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

SFM opened at $154.48 on Thursday. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1 year low of $41.27 and a 1 year high of $155.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $127.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.45 billion, a PE ratio of 44.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.54.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.09, for a total value of $577,628.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 222,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,485,650.88. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 11,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.84, for a total transaction of $1,527,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,571 shares in the company, valued at $4,459,571.64. The trade was a 25.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,516 shares of company stock valued at $4,465,466. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,107,000 after acquiring an additional 973,666 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,438,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,295,000 after purchasing an additional 593,600 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2,577.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 452,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,980,000 after buying an additional 435,767 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the third quarter worth $31,712,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 41.3% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 804,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,271,000 after buying an additional 235,100 shares during the last quarter.

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.