Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 287,621 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,922 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.29% of Sprouts Farmers Market worth $36,548,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Sprouts Farmers Market by 13.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,349,694 shares of the company’s stock worth $149,020,000 after acquiring an additional 156,175 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $13,348,000. SpiderRock Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,252,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 983,257 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,561,000 after buying an additional 48,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the 4th quarter valued at $1,517,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SFM. StockNews.com raised Sprouts Farmers Market from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $105.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $132.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Sprouts Farmers Market from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.40.

Sprouts Farmers Market Stock Performance

Sprouts Farmers Market stock opened at $143.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.42, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $148.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.61. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.57 and a 52 week high of $178.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 28.24% and a net margin of 4.73%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprouts Farmers Market news, CEO Jack Sinclair sold 2,935 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.74, for a total transaction of $407,201.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,499 shares in the company, valued at $20,741,491.26. This represents a 1.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Douglas Gregory Rauch sold 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.89, for a total value of $104,223.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,874 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,619,029.86. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 42,614 shares of company stock worth $6,323,731 over the last three months. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.