Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Sells 531 Shares of Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Nicholas Konat sold 531 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total value of $74,037.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 66,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,335,953.94. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Nicholas Konat also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 17th, Nicholas Konat sold 8,755 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $1,203,112.10.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:SFM traded up $2.62 on Friday, reaching $142.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,133,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,315,985. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.61 and a 12-month high of $178.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $150.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.50. The firm has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SFM. Northcoast Research raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.92.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 156,175 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth about $13,348,000. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,517,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 983,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,561,000 after acquiring an additional 48,103 shares in the last quarter.

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.