Dark Forest Capital Management LP Makes New $840,000 Investment in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 10,046 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $840,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SFM. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 223.5% during the second quarter. Crewe Advisors LLC now owns 317 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the second quarter valued at $29,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the second quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares in the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SFM opened at $108.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.76 and a twelve month high of $110.98. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $98.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.75.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.16. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.52% and a return on equity of 27.53%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on SFM. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $102.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Melius Research initiated coverage on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $58.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $62.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 56,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $5,680,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,895 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,089,500. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 56,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total transaction of $5,680,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,895 shares in the company, valued at $1,089,500. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.38, for a total transaction of $476,433.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 245,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,452,113.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 123,221 shares of company stock worth $12,130,609 over the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.