Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

SFM has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of SFM traded up $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $149.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,267,473 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,314,882. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Sprouts Farmers Market has a one year low of $61.61 and a one year high of $178.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $151.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.79.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,070,304.26. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 11,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.13, for a total transaction of $1,614,935.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,968,762.75. The trade was a 16.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,784 shares of company stock worth $13,231,786 over the last 90 days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 20,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter worth about $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position 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 buying an additional 156,175 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter valued at about $13,348,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth about $1,517,000.

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.