Evercore ISI Has Lowered Expectations for Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock Price

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Evercore ISI from $185.00 to $180.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 32.52% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $154.15.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

NASDAQ SFM traded up $3.08 on Tuesday, reaching $135.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 559,090 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,557,658. The firm has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 52 week low of $60.46 and a 52 week high of $178.99. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $150.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.42.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. Sell-side analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total transaction of $104,223.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,619,029.86. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.24, for a total transaction of $4,477,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 163,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,454,764.88. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,264 shares of company stock worth $6,995,193 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SFM. Total Wealth Planning & Management Inc. bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at $613,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,198,000. Brucke Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter worth $271,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,334,000 after buying an additional 3,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtue Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at $996,000.

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.