Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Makes New $569,000 Investment in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 11,827 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $569,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 20.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.4% during the third quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 58,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,488,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.5% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Lindenwold Advisors INC boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.5% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 7,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 3,774 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $234,969.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,748 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $669,170.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 8,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $499,513.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Stacy W. Hilgendorf sold 3,774 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total value of $234,969.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,748 shares in the company, valued at $669,170.48. 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 three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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 report on Tuesday, February 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. 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 report on Tuesday, March 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $51.14.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $63.10 on Friday. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.12 and a twelve month high of $65.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.14, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $60.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current 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.