Eisler Capital Management Ltd. Invests $381,000 in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Eisler Capital Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $381,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the fourth quarter valued at $143,113,000. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 94.9% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,298,768 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,034,000 after purchasing an additional 632,523 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market in the 4th quarter valued at about $64,117,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 22.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,582,896 shares of the company’s stock valued at $201,139,000 after purchasing an additional 294,553 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,843,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,231,000 after purchasing an additional 168,605 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SFM. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $174.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Northcoast Research upgraded Sprouts Farmers Market from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $163.00 to $190.00 in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $195.00 to $196.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 49,898 shares of Sprouts Farmers Market stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.42, for a total value of $6,856,983.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 189,449 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,034,081.58. This trade represents a 20.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Joe Fortunato sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.80, for a total transaction of $724,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 28,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,137,080.80. This trade represents a 14.89 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,141 shares of company stock worth $14,851,836. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Sprouts Farmers Market Trading Up 2.2 %

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $161.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.87. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 1 year low of $74.15 and a 1 year high of $178.99. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $153.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $148.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 1.13.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.27. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 29.86% and a net margin of 4.93%. The company had revenue of $2.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. Sprouts Farmers Market’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 4.29 EPS 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.