Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Bought by Advisors Capital Management LLC

Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,427 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter worth $143,113,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in 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 during the 4th quarter valued at about $64,117,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,139,000 after purchasing an additional 294,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,926,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,070,304.26. The trade was a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total value of $143,743.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,830 shares in the company, valued at $1,326,755.10. This represents a 9.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 96,764 shares of company stock worth $13,562,649 over the last ninety days. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Northcoast Research upgraded 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

NASDAQ SFM opened at $160.19 on Wednesday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.61 and a 1 year high of $178.99. The business’s fifty day moving average is $151.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13.

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