Douglas Gregory Rauch Sells 1,000 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.25, for a total transaction of $140,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,598 shares in the company, valued at $1,486,369.50. This represents a 8.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of SFM traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $139.77. 1,028,809 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,312,466. The company has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a PE ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.46 and a 52 week high of $178.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,554,000 after buying an additional 56,652 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,322,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,634,000 after purchasing an additional 56,161 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,231,000 after purchasing an additional 168,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,139,000 after purchasing an additional 294,553 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SFM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

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.