State Street Corp Buys 8,724 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

State Street Corp lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 0.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,727,976 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,724 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $411,606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 167.4% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,555,192 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,107,000 after purchasing an additional 973,666 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,438,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,295,000 after buying an additional 593,600 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2,577.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 452,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,980,000 after acquiring an additional 435,767 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,712,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 41.3% in the second quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 804,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,271,000 after acquiring an additional 235,100 shares in the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFM opened at $144.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.68, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.58. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.88 and a 12 month high of $155.64. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.28. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 28.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $112.41, for a total transaction of $642,310.74. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 211,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,718,959.64. This represents a 2.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph D. O’leary sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.11, for a total value of $52,538.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 17,991 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,629.01. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,155 shares of company stock valued at $3,742,274 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SFM. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price target for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.40.

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.