Cibc World Markets Corp Acquires Shares of 9,428 Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,198,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SFM. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 56,161 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after purchasing an additional 156,175 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its holdings 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. increased its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,430,000 after buying an additional 3,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in 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 period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of 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. 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, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $142.39 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.50. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.61 and a 52-week high of $178.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Insider Activity

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 229 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total transaction of $31,929.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,226 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,811.18. The trade was a 2.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares in the company, valued at $24,070,304.26. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,501 shares of company stock valued at $11,616,851 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.