Northcoast Research Upgrades Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) to “Buy”

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Northcoast Research from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $185.00 target price on the stock. Northcoast Research’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 29.49% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SFM. Bank of America raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $154.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $142.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $148.73 and a 200-day moving average of $131.00. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 52 week low of $60.46 and a 52 week high of $178.99.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $2 billion during 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, analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph D. O’leary sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.11, for a total transaction of $52,538.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,629.01. This trade represents a 1.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total value of $488,379.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,669 shares in the company, 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 42,614 shares of company stock valued at $6,323,731. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 56,652 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $567,322,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,634,000 after acquiring an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,231,000 after acquiring an additional 168,605 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $201,139,000 after acquiring an additional 294,553 shares during the period.

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.