Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 36.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,478,588 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 398,901 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 1.46% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $71,135,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 614.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,039,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,359,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614,241 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 411.4% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,538,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,013,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,610 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,477,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,075,000 after acquiring an additional 17,565 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,436,821 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,496,000 after acquiring an additional 88,997 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,055,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,756,000 after acquiring an additional 13,184 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFM opened at $77.75 on Tuesday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.01 and a twelve month high of $82.96. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.98 and a 200 day moving average of $60.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.50.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 EPS 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 company 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 business earned $0.98 EPS. Sprouts Farmers Market’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SFM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America raised Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total value of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 5,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.62, for a total value of $329,851.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,349.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 91,914 shares of company stock worth $6,390,623. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.