Insider Selling: Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Sells 31,846 Shares of Stock

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 82,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,125,414.35. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Nicholas Konat also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, March 15th, Nicholas Konat sold 640 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $39,980.80.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $64.04 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.51. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.12 and a 12 month high of $65.53.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 26.71%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SFM. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 17.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 22,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 3,389 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the first quarter valued at about $387,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.6% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 336,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,747,000 after purchasing an additional 5,334 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.5% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 41,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 3,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 26.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 78,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,588,000 after purchasing an additional 16,200 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.29.

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.