Abel Hall LLC Takes Position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Abel Hall LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 28,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,642,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 5,477 shares of the company’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $102.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America lifted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock opened at $155.11 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $142.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.81 and a 52 week high of $155.64. The company has a market cap of $15.51 billion, a PE ratio of 44.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.63.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. The company’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.74, for a total value of $407,201.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,499 shares in the company, valued at $20,741,491.26. The trade was a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph L. Hurley sold 4,956 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.66, for a total value of $657,462.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,483,669.44. This trade represents a 30.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 61,869 shares of company stock valued at $8,778,152. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.