Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Sells $724,000.00 in Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total transaction of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,137,080.80. This represents a 14.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFM opened at $136.97 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.42. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.46 and a 52-week high of $178.99. The firm has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Equities analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SFM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Unified Investment Management acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth about $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter worth about $13,348,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter worth about $3,252,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth about $1,517,000.

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.