StockNews.com Downgrades Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) to Hold

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Melius Research assumed coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 2.2 %

SFM opened at $145.89 on Wednesday. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1-year low of $40.62 and a 1-year high of $148.56. The business has a 50 day moving average of $120.80 and a 200-day moving average of $98.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 28.24%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total transaction of $757,676.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,463,777.60. The trade was a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 1,997 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.20, for a total transaction of $198,102.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,596,262.40. This trade represents a 7.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,148 shares of company stock valued at $5,853,826 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 7.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,973 shares of the company’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,634,000 after purchasing an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 128.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 199,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,975,000 after purchasing an additional 111,838 shares during the period. Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 106.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 64,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,074,000 after buying an additional 33,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 82.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 8,010 shares during the period.

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.