Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Upgraded at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $190.00 price objective on the stock, up from their previous price objective of $163.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on SFM. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock opened at $140.99 on Monday. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 1-year low of $60.46 and a 1-year high of $178.99. 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 company has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.93.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,915 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.54, for a total transaction of $488,379.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 143,669 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,070,304.26. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total value of $724,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,137,080.80. This represents a 14.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,850 shares of company stock worth $1,619,581. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 56,652 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,464,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $567,322,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% in the 3rd 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. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 168,605 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $201,139,000 after purchasing an additional 294,553 shares during the period.

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.