Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Shares Acquired by California Public Employees Retirement System

California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM - Free Report) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 571,879 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 92,353 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.56% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $27,513,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 614.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,039,640 shares of the company's stock worth $146,359,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614,241 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,477,341 shares of the company's stock worth $71,075,000 after acquiring an additional 17,565 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 6.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,436,821 shares of the company's stock worth $61,496,000 after purchasing an additional 88,997 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 923,396 shares of the company's stock worth $39,521,000 after purchasing an additional 16,258 shares during the last quarter. 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 906,391 shares of the company's stock worth $38,803,000 after purchasing an additional 13,701 shares during the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock 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 stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $51.14.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock traded up $1.08 on Friday, reaching $66.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,904,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,118,783. The company has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.50. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.12 and a 52-week high of $68.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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

Insider Transactions at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $29,923.13. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $186,597.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CMO Alisa Gmelich sold 479 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total value of $29,923.13. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $186,597.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 5,353 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.62, for a total value of $329,851.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,895 shares in the company, valued at $671,349.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock valued at $10,032,745 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Sprouts Farmers Market 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.