HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 7,355 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 55.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,722 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,355 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $2,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,484,059 shares of the company’s stock valued at $275,634,000 after acquiring an additional 56,161 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,034,000 after acquiring an additional 632,523 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 987,093 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,430,000 after acquiring an additional 3,836 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.5% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 698,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,122,000 after acquiring an additional 10,326 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SFM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Northcoast Research raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $119.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $162.92.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ SFM opened at $142.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $150.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.50. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $61.61 and a one year high of $178.99.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS 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 net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. Equities analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 1,065 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.97, for a total value of $143,743.05. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 9,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,326,755.10. This trade represents a 9.78 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 49,898 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total transaction of $6,856,983.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 189,449 shares in the company, valued at $26,034,081.58. This represents a 20.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 83,501 shares of company stock worth $11,616,851. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.