Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Sold by Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP

Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM - Free Report) by 36.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 115,631 shares of the company's stock after selling 65,783 shares during the quarter. Smith Graham & Co. Investment Advisors LP owned about 0.11% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $5,563,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 1,260 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% in the third quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 58,125 shares of the company's stock worth $2,488,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.5% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,659 shares of the company's stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.5% in the third quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,374 shares of the company's stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 9.6% in the third quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,035 shares of the company's stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ SFM traded down $1.90 during trading on Friday, hitting $62.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,052,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,293,545. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.50. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $59.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.45. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.12 and a fifty-two week high of $65.53.

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

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $1,367,484.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares in the company, valued at $499,513.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $1,367,484.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares in the company, valued at $499,513.44. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 31,710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.03, for a total value of $1,998,681.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 274,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,332,052.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on SFM. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.43.

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.