Joe Fortunato Sells 5,000 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.48, for a total transaction of $392,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 52,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,156,771.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Joe Fortunato also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 4th, Joe Fortunato sold 13,000 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total value of $828,230.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 2.6 %

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $82.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.50. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.12 and a 1-year high of $82.96. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.12. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 26.77% and a net margin of 4.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter worth approximately $349,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 505.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 52,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,398,000 after acquiring an additional 43,990 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth $118,000. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 29.6% during the 1st quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 19,581 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 194,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,528,000 after purchasing an additional 6,937 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on SFM. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.25.

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.