Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) Analysts Recommendations and Insider Trading

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) stock is presently standing at about $28.95 and lots of equity research firms seem to have a target price set on the stock. The median one-year price target of 20 analysts covering the company is $28.50, which suggests the stock could still rise over -2 percent. The highest analyst price target is $38.00, which implies a rally of 69 percent. And a quick view of analyst notes show that 4 are rating the stock a buy while 1 rate WFM a strong buy. There are 13 equity research firms advocating a Hold and 4 consider it Sell.

BofA/Merrill analysts provided their view on Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) recently. The rating firm issued a Underperform rating to this company in a research note released on Nov 04, 2016. Barclays analysts disclosed their opinion on Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) recently. The rating firm gave a Equal Weight rating to this stock in a research note published on Sep 23, 2016. According to a research note disclosed on Jul 26, 2016, analysts at Goldman have lowered their rating on these shares from Neutral to Sell.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) Transactions Roundup

Several insiders were part of recent insider activity for the stock. Its Regional President minardi christina sold 2,061 company shares for 60390, in a transaction on 2017-03-09. Following the transaction, the Regional President is left with a stake of 1,980 shares, currently valued at $57321. Meanwhile, Regional President Bashaw Michael sold 2,614 shares worth $77270, through a transaction dated 2017-03-03. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider is left with a stake of 22,221 shares, amounting $643297.95. WFM Regional President Derba Laura A also sold 744 shares, at a stock price of $30.5. This transaction occurred on 2017-03-02 totals $22690. After this transaction, the insider’s stake stands at 1,917 shares, with a market value of $55497.

Executives hold 0.62 percent of the stock. John P. Mackey is one of the biggest insider owners in Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM), according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The insider owns 778,516 shares which have current market value of around $22538038.2.Ms. Glenda J. Flanagan is another major inside shareholder in the company. The insider owns 215,122 shares as of less than 0.1%, currently worth $6227781.9. James P. Sud is ranked as third insider holder of the stock. This insider holds 183,496 shares with a market value around $5312209.2 as of recent close.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) Earnings Outlook

In Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM)’s latest quarter, EPS moved to $0.39 from $0.28 in preceding quarter and revenues reached at $4,918.00M compared to $3,497.00M. Analysts had expected Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) to post net income of about $0.39 per share on $4,979.26M in revenue. Looking ahead, analysts on average predict that earnings for the current quarter would come in in the range of $0.36 to $0.41. That is compared with the $0.44 in EPS it reported during the same period a year ago.