Dorsey Wright & Associates Acquires 343 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Dorsey Wright & Associates boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,416 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 343 shares during the quarter. Sprouts Farmers Market accounts for about 2.0% of Dorsey Wright & Associates’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Dorsey Wright & Associates owned about 0.06% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $8,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at $143,113,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,034,000 after purchasing an additional 632,523 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at about $64,117,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter worth about $18,259,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth approximately $19,926,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SFM shares. Bank of America increased their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $167.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total transaction of $143,743.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,755.10. This represents a 9.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total transaction of $31,929.47. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,226 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,811.18. This represents a 2.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 94,784 shares of company stock valued at $13,231,786. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $147.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.61 and a 1-year high of $178.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.30, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $151.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $137.45.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. On average, equities analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

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.