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

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also commented on SFM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Melius Research began coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Monday, September 23rd. They set a “hold” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

SFM opened at $131.79 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.23. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52-week low of $39.98 and a 52-week high of $135.10. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 38.09, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.54.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 Joel D. Anderson sold 20,851 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.16, for a total value of $2,005,032.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,809 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,808,673.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Hari K. Avula sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 10,554 shares in the company, valued at $1,018,461. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joel D. Anderson sold 20,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.16, for a total value of $2,005,032.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,809 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,808,673.44. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,829 shares of company stock worth $5,206,068 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,715,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $690,966,000 after buying an additional 29,362 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,438,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $371,295,000 after purchasing an additional 593,600 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,107,000 after purchasing an additional 973,666 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,148,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,080,000 after purchasing an additional 6,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,053,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $88,138,000 after purchasing an additional 28,636 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.