Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 87,284 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lowered its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 52.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,060 shares of the company’s stock after selling 87,284 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $3,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Trust Walden Corp grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,477,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,075,000 after purchasing an additional 17,565 shares during the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at $1,337,000. PFG Investments LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at about $208,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 89.6% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 36,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 17,012 shares during the period. Finally, Reinhart Partners LLC. raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 741,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,660,000 after purchasing an additional 351,446 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SFM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 3,774 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $234,969.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $669,170.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 3,774 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $234,969.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $669,170.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 417 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $26,049.99. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $645,377.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SFM opened at $65.15 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.17. The company has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.96, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.50. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.12 and a 52 week high of $65.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.04. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 26.71% and a net margin of 3.79%. The business had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 2.95 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.