Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Purchases New Position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,472 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lindenwold Advisors INC grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC now owns 10,374 shares of the company’s stock worth $444,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 37,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,622,000 after acquiring an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 405.7% during the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 155,087 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,638,000 after acquiring an additional 124,417 shares during the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 21.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 15,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842 shares during the last quarter.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:SFM opened at $66.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 1.10. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.12 and a 52 week high of $68.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $62.22 and its 200-day moving average is $51.82. The firm has a market cap of $6.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.50.

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

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total transaction of $828,230.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,509,855.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total transaction of $828,230.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,395 shares in the company, valued at $2,509,855.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Timmi Zalatoris sold 5,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.62, for a total transaction of $329,851.86. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $671,349.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $70.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $51.14.

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.