Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. $SFM

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:SFM) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 20,837 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,762,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sprouts Farmers Market by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,913,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $789,802,000 after buying an additional 28,951 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Sprouts Farmers Market during the second quarter worth approximately $768,171,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,115,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,174,000 after acquiring an additional 71,905 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Sprouts Farmers Market by 137.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,584,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,494,014 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in Sprouts Farmers Market by 51.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,098,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,168,000 after acquiring an additional 708,529 shares during the last quarter.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph D. O’leary sold 2,597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.57, for a total value of $214,434.29. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,214,604.70. This represents a 15.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Nicholas Konat sold 12,538 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.90, for a total value of $1,102,090.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 66,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,811,860.10. This trade represents a 15.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 58,289 shares of company stock worth $4,991,405 over the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SFM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Roth Capital set a $82.00 target price on Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Sprouts Farmers Market from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.58.

Sprouts Farmers Market Price Performance

SFM stock opened at $81.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $81.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.55. Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.75 and a 12-month high of $141.78.

Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ:SFM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.02. Sprouts Farmers Market had a return on equity of 34.84% and a net margin of 5.58%.The business had revenue of $2.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sprouts Farmers Market has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.240 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.320-5.400 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. will post 5.55 EPS for the current year.

Sprouts Farmers Market 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.