Dustin Hamilton Sells 500 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM - Get Free Report) insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total value of $48,760.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ SFM traded up $1.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $97.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,243,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,360,588. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.46 and a twelve month high of $103.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company's 50 day moving average price is $87.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.63. The firm has a market cap of $9.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.55.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.53%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market's revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SFM. Dorsey Wright & Associates acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter worth $1,378,000. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter valued at about $349,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 616,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,748,000 after buying an additional 48,225 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 411.4% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,538,410 shares of the company's stock worth $74,013,000 after buying an additional 1,237,610 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 78.8% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 26,113 shares of the company's stock worth $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 11,508 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $84.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $84.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.38.

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.

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