Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Updates Q4 Earnings Guidance

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $0.67-$0.71 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $0.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SFM. Royal Bank of Canada began 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 objective on the stock. Roth Mkm lifted their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock traded down $0.85 on Wednesday, hitting $118.84. 1,624,575 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,312,933. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $11.90 billion, a PE ratio of 37.25, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.56. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1-year low of $39.76 and a 1-year high of $121.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $108.49 and its 200 day moving average is $90.41.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 27.53% and a net margin of 4.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 921 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.60, for a total transaction of $104,625.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,868,513.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 921 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.60, for a total value of $104,625.60. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,251 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,868,513.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Hari K. Avula sold 2,500 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.50, for a total value of $241,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,554 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,018,461. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 124,142 shares of company stock valued at $12,401,112. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.