Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Sold by AGF Management Ltd.

AGF Management Ltd. trimmed its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 13.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 187,369 shares of the company’s stock after selling 29,269 shares during the quarter. AGF Management Ltd.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $23,809,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 93.5% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 84.1% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 80.6% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SFM. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on 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. 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 note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total value of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,137,080.80. This trade represents a 14.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,070,304.26. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,564 shares of company stock valued at $6,890,970 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock opened at $134.91 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.46 and a 12-month high of $178.99.

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

Sprouts Farmers Market 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.