Nicholas Konat Sells 8,755 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Nicholas Konat sold 8,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $1,203,112.10. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 63,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,773,579.90. This trade represents a 12.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $139.77 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $61.61 and a one year high of $178.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $150.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.24. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SFM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at $143,113,000. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,034,000 after acquiring an additional 632,523 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,117,000. Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,946,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,139,000 after acquiring an additional 294,553 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SFM. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

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.