Forte Capital LLC ADV Purchases 14,755 Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Forte Capital LLC ADV increased its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM - Free Report) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,724 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 14,755 shares during the quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV owned 0.10% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $4,750,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SFM. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 66.6% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 19,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 7,901 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 267.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 35,565 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,711,000 after acquiring an additional 25,879 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 77,752 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,741,000 after acquiring an additional 7,252 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.50.

Insider Activity

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares in the company, valued at $499,513.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 8,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at $499,513.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 3,865 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.21, for a total transaction of $240,441.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $518,084.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock traded up $1.68 on Friday, hitting $73.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,076,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,492,326. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.12 and a fifty-two week high of $74.03. The company has a market capitalization of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.50. The stock's 50 day moving average is $63.94 and its 200-day moving average is $52.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.19.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.12. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 26.77% and a net margin of 4.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.