Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $64.29, but opened at $71.40. Sprouts Farmers Market shares last traded at $71.93, with a volume of 617,164 shares traded.

The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 27.36% and a net margin of 4.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total value of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 31,710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.03, for a total value of $1,998,681.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 274,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,332,052.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,125,414.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TFB Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $432,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,643,000. Quent Capital LLC increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 23.5% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,336,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,419,000 after buying an additional 297,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,429 shares of the company’s stock valued at $544,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 2.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.87.

Sprouts Farmers Market Company 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.