Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Insider Sells $668,465.15 in Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) insider John Scott Neal sold 6,535 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.29, for a total value of $668,465.15. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,462,030.97. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $102.54. 970,652 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,358,158. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.30 billion, a PE ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.55. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.46 and a fifty-two week high of $103.80. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 27.53% and a net margin of 4.52%. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 42.2% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 74,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,270,000 after buying an additional 22,246 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1,425.8% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 473 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 442 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 29.8% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 29,962 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,507,000 after buying an additional 6,871 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 57.0% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 51,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,312,000 after buying an additional 18,710 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 7.8% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 734,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,489,000 after buying an additional 53,165 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SFM. UBS Group increased their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Roth Mkm raised their price objective 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.38.

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.