Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Upgraded at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has $190.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $163.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

SFM opened at $140.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.45, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $150.80 and a 200 day moving average of $135.21. Sprouts Farmers Market has a fifty-two week low of $60.46 and a fifty-two week high of $178.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 49,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $6,856,983.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,034,081.58. This represents a 20.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total transaction of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 28,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,137,080.80. This represents a 14.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 79,653 shares of company stock valued at $11,080,042 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,020,000 after purchasing an additional 156,175 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter valued at $13,348,000. First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at $1,517,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 5.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 983,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,561,000 after purchasing 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.