Aviance Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,624 shares of the company’s stock after selling 782 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $1,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SFM. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 6,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Forte Capital LLC ADV increased its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 98,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,750,000 after buying an additional 14,755 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 7,901 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 267.2% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 35,565 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,711,000 after buying an additional 25,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 77,752 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,741,000 after buying an additional 7,252 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 1.8 %

SFM traded up $1.32 during trading on Monday, reaching $75.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,677,482 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,371,246. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $32.12 and a one year high of $75.54. The company has a market capitalization of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $64.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.24.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 26.77%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.98 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $29,923.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,597.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $29,923.13. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,597.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,125,414.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 160,852 shares of company stock valued at $10,032,745 in the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.50.

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.