Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Needham & Company LLC reissued their buy rating on shares of Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $55.00 price target on the stock.

SPT has been the subject of several other research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $48.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sprout Social from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on Sprout Social in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.54.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SPT opened at $31.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.35 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. Sprout Social has a 52-week low of $25.05 and a 52-week high of $68.41.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.06). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 40.94% and a negative net margin of 17.24%. The company had revenue of $102.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.04 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto sold 16,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total transaction of $520,632.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 153,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,753,091.25. The trade was a 9.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Karen Walker sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.26, for a total value of $151,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 30,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $927,922.90. The trade was a 14.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 40,265 shares of company stock valued at $1,266,606. Company insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Yarbrough Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprout Social during the 4th quarter worth about $206,000. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in Sprout Social by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 17,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,000 after acquiring an additional 1,274 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Sprout Social by 324.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 402,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,714,000 after acquiring an additional 307,906 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sprout Social by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,199,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,868,000 after acquiring an additional 200,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,256 shares of the company’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034 shares in the last quarter.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.