State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Cuts Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lessened its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 37.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,017 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $3,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SFM. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 411.4% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,538,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,013,000 after buying an additional 1,237,610 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at $23,992,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 36.9% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,478,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,135,000 after purchasing an additional 398,901 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,336,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,419,000 after purchasing an additional 297,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invenomic Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at $13,840,000.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total value of $440,686.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 256,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,785,102.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 27,188 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,651,373.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,718 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.07, for a total transaction of $440,686.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 256,716 shares in the company, valued at $19,785,102.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 128,939 shares of company stock worth $12,571,295 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price objective for the company. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. 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 report on Monday, July 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.22.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $106.83 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.33 and a 200 day moving average of $79.53. The firm has a market cap of $10.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.64, a PEG ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.56. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.50 and a 1 year high of $107.90.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.53%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.