Proficio Capital Partners LLC Buys Shares of 48,541 Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 48,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,168,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $275,634,000 after buying an additional 56,161 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after buying an additional 156,175 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,034,000 after buying an additional 632,523 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,430,000 after buying an additional 3,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 698,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,122,000 after buying an additional 10,326 shares during the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $136.75 on Monday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $60.46 and a one year high of $178.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.37, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value 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 $4,137,080.80. This trade represents a 14.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total value of $488,379.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 143,669 shares in the company, valued at $24,070,304.26. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,564 shares of company stock valued at $2,413,770. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SFM shares. Northcoast Research upgraded 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 research note on Friday, February 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 research note on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $154.15.

Sprouts Farmers Market 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.