Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Reaches New 1-Year High at $68.03

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $68.03 and last traded at $67.81, with a volume of 1650691 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $66.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.14.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.44. The firm has a market cap of $6.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 26.71% and a net margin of 3.79%. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $29,923.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,987 shares in the company, valued at $186,597.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 31,710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.03, for a total transaction of $1,998,681.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 274,981 shares in the company, valued at $17,332,052.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $29,923.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,597.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,657 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,556,000 after acquiring an additional 9,049 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth $223,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 127,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,223,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the first quarter worth about $802,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,135 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,781,000 after buying an additional 7,570 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Company Profile

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.