Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Short Interest Update

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,250,000 shares, a drop of 26.7% from the October 15th total of 9,890,000 shares. Approximately 7.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $90.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $115.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,651,373.76. This trade represents a 1.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 11,500 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.84, for a total value of $1,527,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 33,571 shares in the company, valued at $4,459,571.64. The trade was a 25.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 50,648 shares of company stock worth $5,902,586. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 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 valued at $275,634,000 after purchasing an additional 56,161 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 128.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 199,035 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,975,000 after buying an additional 111,838 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 106.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dorsey Wright & Associates now owns 64,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,074,000 after acquiring an additional 33,011 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 82.7% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 8,010 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2,831.9% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 5,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $599,000 after acquiring an additional 5,239 shares during the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SFM traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $142.00. The stock had a trading volume of 1,246,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,335,586. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1-year low of $40.39 and a 1-year high of $148.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 28.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sprouts Farmers Market Company 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.