Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Sprouts Farmers Market had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 26.77%. The business had revenue of $1.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Shares of SFM stock traded up $1.68 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.68. The stock had a trading volume of 2,076,372 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,492,326. Sprouts Farmers Market has a fifty-two week low of $32.12 and a fifty-two week high of $74.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.87. The firm has a market cap of $7.40 billion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total transaction of $828,230.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,509,855.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joe Fortunato sold 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.71, for a total transaction of $828,230.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 39,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,509,855.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brandon F. Lombardi sold 22,799 shares of the company’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 value of $1,367,484.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $499,513.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,852 shares of company stock worth $10,032,745. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SFM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Sprouts Farmers Market from $56.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $48.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $31.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sprouts Farmers Market currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.50.

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.