Nicholas Konat Sells 531 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Nicholas Konat sold 531 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total value of $74,037.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 66,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,335,953.94. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Nicholas Konat also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 17th, Nicholas Konat sold 8,755 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $1,203,112.10.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

NASDAQ SFM traded up $2.62 on Friday, reaching $142.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,133,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,315,985. The stock has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, 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 $61.61 and a 12-month high of $178.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $150.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.50. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,347,554,000 after acquiring an additional 56,652 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the fourth 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $275,634,000 after purchasing an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,231,000 after purchasing an additional 168,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the fourth 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 period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SFM. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of 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. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

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.