Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Downgraded by Melius Research to “Sell”

Melius Research lowered shares of Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Melius Research currently has $70.00 target price on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $110.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $108.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $104.00 to $92.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.31.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:SFM opened at $77.43 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.85. Sprouts Farmers Market has a 12-month low of $64.75 and a 12-month high of $182.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.03. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 38.21% and a net margin of 5.95%.The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sprouts Farmers Market has set its FY 2026 guidance at 5.280-5.440 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 1.660-1.700 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sprouts Farmers Market

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 3,201 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.97, for a total transaction of $268,787.97. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 269,980 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,670,220.60. This represents a 1.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 530 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.97, for a total transaction of $44,504.10. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 78,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,604,828.29. This represents a 0.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 129,750 shares of company stock valued at $10,566,838 in the last quarter. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprouts Farmers Market

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,913,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $789,802,000 after buying an additional 28,951 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,115,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,174,000 after buying an additional 71,905 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 137.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,584,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,582,000 after buying an additional 1,494,014 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,323,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $186,647,000 after buying an additional 653,206 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 51.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,098,249 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,168,000 after buying an additional 708,529 shares during the period.

Sprouts Farmers Market Company Profile

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc (NASDAQ: SFM) is a specialty grocery retailer focused on fresh, natural and organic foods. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, the company operates stores designed to offer an open-market shopping experience, emphasizing quality produce sourced from regional farmers alongside organic pantry staples, dairy, meat and seafood. Sprouts’ product assortment also includes bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, a deli and prepared foods, reflecting its commitment to wellness and affordable healthy living.

Founded in 2002 by members of the Boney family, Sprouts began as a single farmers market in Chandler, Arizona.