Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Sells 8,755 Shares of Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Nicholas Konat sold 8,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $1,203,112.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 63,845 shares in the company, valued at $8,773,579.90. The trade was a 12.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFM traded up $3.01 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $140.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,121,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,313,650. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $60.46 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $150.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.21.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued 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 return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. On average, research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFM has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Nine research 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, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $162.92.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 56,652 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,322,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,231,000 after buying an additional 168,605 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,139,000 after buying an additional 294,553 shares during the period.

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.