Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,620,000 shares, a decrease of 15.5% from the February 13th total of 6,650,000 shares. Currently, 5.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,490,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SFM shares. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $162.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,935 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,741,491.26. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 775 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $106,500.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 15,943 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,190,887.06. This represents a 4.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 12,690 shares of company stock worth $1,869,825 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SFM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,604,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,347,554,000 after purchasing an additional 56,652 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $567,322,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $275,634,000 after acquiring an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,231,000 after acquiring an additional 168,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% in the 4th 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.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SFM opened at $136.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $150.79 and its 200-day moving average is $135.17. The company has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share 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.