Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $23.00.

VITL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Lake Street Capital raised their price objective on Vital Farms from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $22.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th.

Vital Farms Stock Up 2.1 %

VITL stock opened at $27.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.12 and a beta of 0.88. Vital Farms has a 52 week low of $10.00 and a 52 week high of $27.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.49, a current ratio of 3.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $135.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.10 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 5.42%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Vital Farms will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total transaction of $426,408.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 223,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,463,068.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Karl Khoury sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.27, for a total transaction of $85,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 155,069 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,298,317.63. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total value of $426,408.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,463,068.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 260,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,580,996 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 30.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 25.1% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,062,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,884,000 after purchasing an additional 413,475 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 79.3% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 524,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,075,000 after acquiring an additional 231,985 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 725.5% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 250,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,906,000 after acquiring an additional 220,552 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at $3,016,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 82.1% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 373,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,681,000 after acquiring an additional 168,296 shares in the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc, a food company, provides pasture-raised products in the United States. It offers shell eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs, and liquid whole eggs. The company was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.