Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Increases Stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,279 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 225 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 28,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,642,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,649 shares of the company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.6% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,917 shares of the company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SFM. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $154.00.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 0.8 %

SFM opened at $136.97 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $150.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.42. 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 cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.43, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $60.46 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 5,714 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.99, for a total transaction of $794,188.86. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 158,148 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,980,990.52. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $104,223.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,619,029.86. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,264 shares of company stock worth $6,995,193 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.