Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Boosts Stock Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,676 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new position in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA raised its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Baldwin Brothers LLC MA now owns 1,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 69.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total transaction of $1,978,591.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,125,414.35. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 8,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,513.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 31,846 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.13, for a total value of $1,978,591.98. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 82,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,125,414.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 198,348 shares of company stock valued at $12,818,196 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SFM. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $70.00 in a research note 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 for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprouts Farmers Market has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.13.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $74.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.12 and a 12 month high of $75.95.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.12. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 26.77%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current 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.