Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $169.80, but opened at $161.34. Sprouts Farmers Market shares last traded at $142.76, with a volume of 1,781,761 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SFM. UBS Group boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $144.30.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $129.27. The company has a market cap of $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of 40.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.63. 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 data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 700 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $104,223.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,619,029.86. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.24, for a total value of $4,477,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 163,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,454,764.88. This represents a 15.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,614 shares of company stock worth $6,323,731 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 48.1% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 10,066 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. JT Stratford LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. JT Stratford LLC now owns 11,091 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 7,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triglav Skladi D.O.O. acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $1,067,000.

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.