4,158 Shares in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Acquired by Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 4,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2,577.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 452,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,980,000 after buying an additional 435,767 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth $31,712,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 314.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 223,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,727,000 after buying an additional 169,888 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter valued at about $18,259,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 3,347.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 164,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,188,000 after acquiring an additional 159,954 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

SFM opened at $152.30 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $141.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $120.25. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.74 and a fifty-two week high of $155.64. The firm has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.63.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.60, for a total value of $757,676.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 199,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,463,777.60. This represents a 2.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph L. Hurley sold 4,956 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.66, for a total value of $657,462.96. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,184 shares in the company, valued at $1,483,669.44. The trade was a 30.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,778,152 over the last three months. 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.