Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday.

SFM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Melius Research started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “hold” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of SFM opened at $140.84 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.54. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $117.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.15. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1 year low of $40.39 and a 1 year high of $148.56.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 28.24%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.65 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, Director Kristen E. Blum sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 51,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,162,700. The trade was a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 11,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.84, for a total transaction of $1,527,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 33,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,459,571.64. The trade was a 25.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 50,648 shares of company stock worth $5,902,586. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter valued at about $935,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the third quarter valued at approximately $296,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,640,000. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 276.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 173,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,142,000 after acquiring an additional 127,290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 76.1% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,058 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,423,000 after purchasing an additional 17,305 shares during the last quarter.

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.