Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Now Covered by Royal Bank of Canada

Research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada began coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 6.26% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SFM. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $89.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $68.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.56.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $100.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $92.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 12 month low of $39.24 and a 12 month high of $104.41.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.53%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total value of $48,760.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares in the company, valued at $2,651,373.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 27,188 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,718 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total value of $440,686.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 256,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,785,102.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 128,939 shares of company stock worth $12,571,295. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 223.5% in the 2nd quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted 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 purchasing an additional 442 shares during the period.

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.