Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Acquired by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,727 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $473,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,554,000 after purchasing an additional 56,652 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,322,000 after buying an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,139,000 after acquiring an additional 294,553 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock worth $165,034,000 after acquiring an additional 632,523 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $167.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 0.0 %

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $160.19 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $151.32 and its 200-day moving average is $141.79. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.61 and a 1 year high of $178.99. The company has a market cap of $15.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.60, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 445 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $61,151.90. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 4,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $609,595.12. The trade was a 9.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total value of $488,379.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,070,304.26. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 96,764 shares of company stock valued at $13,562,649. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Profile

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.