Marietta Investment Partners LLC Invests $816,000 in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Marietta Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $816,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 93.5% during the 4th quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 289 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 80.6% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 363 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SFM. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on 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. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326,755.10. The trade was a 9.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 83,501 shares of company stock valued at $11,616,851 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of SFM stock opened at $142.39 on Friday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.61 and a 1-year high of $178.99. The stock’s fifty 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 current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. On average, research analysts expect 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.