Joseph D. O’leary Sells 2,000 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Joseph D. O’leary sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.40, for a total value of $318,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,858,201.40. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $158.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $74.15 and a fifty-two week high of $178.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.83. The company has a market capitalization of $15.51 billion, a PE ratio of 42.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1,033.4% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,476,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,350,000 after buying an additional 1,346,097 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at about $143,113,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 300.3% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,037,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,316,000 after purchasing an additional 778,079 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter valued at about $106,852,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its position in 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 in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.79.

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.