Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $118.40.

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFM opened at $146.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The business has a 50-day moving average of $141.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.30. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1 year low of $48.98 and a 1 year high of $155.64.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.84, for a total transaction of $1,527,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 33,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,459,571.64. The trade was a 25.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total value of $757,676.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 199,576 shares in the company, valued at $26,463,777.60. The trade was a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,869 shares of company stock worth $8,778,152 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Narus Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 3,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $238,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,343,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 263,344 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,463,000 after acquiring an additional 41,703 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $400,000.

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.