Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Acquired by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 75.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 95,853 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 41,285 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $12,180,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,634,000 after purchasing an additional 56,161 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after purchasing an additional 156,175 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,034,000 after purchasing an additional 632,523 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,093 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,430,000 after purchasing an additional 3,836 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.5% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 698,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,122,000 after purchasing an additional 10,326 shares during the period.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total value of $143,743.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,755.10. This represents a 9.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 49,898 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $6,856,983.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 189,449 shares in the company, valued at $26,034,081.58. This represents a 20.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 83,501 shares of company stock worth $11,616,851 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SFM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $163.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned 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 target price of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of SFM opened at $142.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.61 and a fifty-two week high of $178.99. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $150.88 and its 200-day moving average is $135.50.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $2 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.