Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $125.00 to $130.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Sprouts Farmers Market traded as high as $118.04 and last traded at $117.87, with a volume of 423438 shares. The stock had previously closed at $117.42.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $111.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price objective on the stock. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.41, for a total value of $642,310.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,718,959.64. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 124,142 shares of company stock worth $12,401,112 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,107,000 after acquiring an additional 973,666 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% in the second 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 last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,336,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $216,419,000 after purchasing an additional 297,067 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 41.3% in the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 804,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,271,000 after purchasing an additional 235,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 314.8% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,727,000 after acquiring an additional 169,888 shares in the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $105.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.80 billion, a PE ratio of 36.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.56.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 27.53% and a net margin of 4.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

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.