Evercore ISI Trims Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Target Price to $61.00

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) had its target price cut by Evercore ISI from $62.00 to $61.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an underperform rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $51.14.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM opened at $63.10 on Tuesday. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52 week low of $32.12 and a 52 week high of $65.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.50. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total value of $1,978,591.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total value of $1,978,591.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $26,049.99. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock valued at $10,032,745. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth about $26,000. West Tower Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 314.5% during the fourth quarter. West Tower Group LLC now owns 630 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 80.3% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 831 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period.

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.