Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,250,000 shares, a decline of 26.7% from the October 15th total of 9,890,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Approximately 7.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, Director Kristen E. Blum sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 51,627 shares in the company, valued at $5,162,700. This trade represents a 3.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Dustin Hamilton sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.52, for a total transaction of $48,760.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,188 shares in the company, valued at $2,651,373.76. This represents a 1.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,648 shares of company stock valued at $5,902,586 in the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 7,488 shares of the company’s stock valued at $483,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 80,352 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,181,000 after purchasing an additional 14,488 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $487,000 after purchasing an additional 2,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 4.7% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 23,273 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,501,000 after buying an additional 1,054 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sprouts Farmers Market from $125.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $127.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $63.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada initiated coverage on Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $107.00 price objective for the company. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $142.00. 1,246,325 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,586. The firm has a market cap of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 41.04, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.88. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 12 month low of $40.39 and a 12 month high of $148.56.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 3.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.