Nuveen Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 664,923 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 75,312 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $84,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 20,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares in the last quarter. Unified Investment Management purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $1,161,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 26.2% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 181,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,046,000 after acquiring an additional 37,637 shares during the last quarter. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 145.8% in the fourth quarter. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 20,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,585,000 after acquiring an additional 12,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,554,000 after acquiring an additional 56,652 shares in the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $168.68 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.86, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $155.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $149.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.15 and a 52 week high of $178.99. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 445 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 4,436 shares in the company, valued at $609,595.12. This represents a 9.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total value of $143,743.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 9,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,755.10. This represents a 9.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 125,362 shares of company stock worth $18,263,687 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $167.79.

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.