Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Sold by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 8.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,543 shares of the company’s stock after selling 670 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $958,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,634,000 after acquiring an additional 56,161 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,020,000 after purchasing an additional 156,175 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,034,000 after buying an additional 632,523 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $140.82 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $150.80 and a 200-day moving average of $135.21. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.46 and a 1-year high of $178.99. The company has a market capitalization of $13.88 billion, a PE ratio of 37.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 released 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 the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,935 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.74, for a total value of $407,201.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,741,491.26. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $61,151.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,436 shares in the company, valued at $609,595.12. The trade was a 9.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 79,653 shares of company stock worth $11,080,042. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.