Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their sector perform rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) in a research note published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $160.00 price target on the stock.

SFM has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $148.31 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.87. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52 week low of $61.61 and a 52 week high of $178.99. The stock has a market cap of $14.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.44, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total value of $488,379.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,070,304.26. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 445 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $61,151.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,436 shares in the company, valued at approximately $609,595.12. This trade represents a 9.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 94,784 shares of company stock valued at $13,231,786 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 80.6% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 983,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,561,000 after acquiring an additional 48,103 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 137.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 249,914 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,593,000 after acquiring an additional 144,761 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 27,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,043,000 after acquiring an additional 4,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $149,000.

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.