Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock Rating Upgraded by Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $120.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $96.00.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $89.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a sector perform rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $99.22.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 1.8 %

SFM stock opened at $104.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.84. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52 week low of $39.50 and a 52 week high of $107.90. The company has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of 36.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.38, for a total value of $476,433.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 245,288 shares in the company, valued at $20,452,113.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were 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 owns 27,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,651,373.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.38, for a total transaction of $476,433.32. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 245,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,452,113.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 123,221 shares of company stock valued at $12,130,609. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 411.4% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,538,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,013,000 after buying an additional 1,237,610 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,107,000 after buying an additional 973,666 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,438,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,295,000 after buying an additional 593,600 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $23,992,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,478,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,135,000 after purchasing an additional 398,901 shares during 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.