Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy” Rating

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

SFM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America upped their price objective 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 lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 15.6 %

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $143.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $148.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Sprouts Farmers Market has a twelve month low of $52.57 and a twelve month high of $178.99. The stock has a market cap of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.63.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. Equities research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,070,304.26. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph D. O’leary sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.11, for a total transaction of $52,538.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 17,991 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,700,629.01. The trade was a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 42,614 shares of company stock valued at $6,323,731 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 48.1% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. JT Stratford LLC boosted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 11,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 7,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Triglav Skladi D.O.O. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,067,000.

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.