Geode Capital Management LLC Sells 5,313 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Geode Capital Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,478,746 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,313 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.48% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $317,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 28,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,642,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $845,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SFM shares. Northcoast Research raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 49,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $6,856,983.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,034,081.58. This represents a 20.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total value of $724,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 28,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,137,080.80. This represents a 14.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,784 shares of company stock valued at $13,534,466 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFM opened at $145.29 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $152.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $138.96. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.61 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. The company has a market cap of $14.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.64, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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.