Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Sprouts Farmers Market was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating, indicating increased analyst confidence in the stock.
• Barclays and Wells Fargo also upgraded the company's stock ratings to "overweight," with Barclays raising the price target from $173 to $185.
• Recently, Sprouts Farmers Market reported a quarterly EPS of $1.35, exceeding estimates and indicating a robust 17.3% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Sunday morning.

SFM has been the topic of several other reports. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $195.00 to $190.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $173.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $159.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.64.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock traded down $0.88 on Friday, hitting $118.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 844,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,755,706. The stock's 50 day moving average is $146.53 and its 200-day moving average is $154.72. Sprouts Farmers Market has a fifty-two week low of $107.36 and a fifty-two week high of $182.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.60 billion, a PE ratio of 24.45, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.87.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.12. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 36.53%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market's revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sprouts Farmers Market has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.200-5.320 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 1.120-1.160 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Sprouts Farmers Market announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, August 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO James H. Bahrenburg sold 4,292 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $588,261.52. Following the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 9,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,256,429.02. This trade represents a 31.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 4,045 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.60, for a total transaction of $560,637.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 174,740 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,218,964. The trade was a 2.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 39,561 shares of company stock worth $5,828,401 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprouts Farmers Market

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unified Investment Management boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Unified Investment Management now owns 7,326 shares of the company's stock worth $1,206,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 10,355 shares of the company's stock worth $1,691,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 3,059 shares of the company's stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 9,069 shares of the company's stock worth $1,493,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Finally, Alteri Wealth LLC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the company's stock worth $1,256,000 after buying an additional 72 shares during the period.

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.