Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) Holdings Lifted by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,800 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 618 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market were worth $610,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 28,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,642,000 after buying an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $853,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,649 shares of the company’s stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In related news, Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.25, for a total value of $140,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,598 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,486,369.50. This represents a 8.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,935 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.74, for a total transaction of $407,201.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,741,491.26. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,501 shares of company stock worth $11,616,851 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of SFM opened at $142.39 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $150.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $135.75. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a one year low of $61.61 and a one year high of $178.99. The company has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.87, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.07. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 29.86%. The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SFM has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $185.00 to $180.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.92.

About Sprouts Farmers Market

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.