Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM - Free Report) by 58.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,104 shares of the company's stock after selling 62,492 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $5,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 20,722 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the period. Unified Investment Management acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,161,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company's stock valued at $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the third quarter valued at approximately $13,348,000. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,517,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SFM. Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Bank of America boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $163.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $167.00.

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Insider Activity

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 445 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $61,151.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 4,436 shares of the company's stock, valued at $609,595.12. This represents a 9.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 229 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.43, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 96,784 shares of company stock worth $13,534,466 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock traded down $5.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $148.25. The company had a trading volume of 1,274,342 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,384,413. The company has a market capitalization of $14.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 stock's 50-day simple moving average is $152.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.69. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.61 and a 1 year high of $178.99.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. On average, equities analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS 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.