Renaissance Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Renaissance Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 41.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 136,135 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 39,917 shares during the period. Renaissance Group LLC owned approximately 0.31% of Vital Farms worth $5,131,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VITL. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Vital Farms by 152.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 895 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 160.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Vital Farms by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total transaction of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,966,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,690,677.10. This trade represents a 0.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Kathryn Mckeon sold 12,300 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.05, for a total transaction of $541,815.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 46,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,035,242.15. This trade represents a 21.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 145,474 shares of company stock worth $5,969,700 in the last quarter. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VITL shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on Vital Farms in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Vital Farms Trading Up 1.4 %

VITL opened at $32.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24. Vital Farms, Inc. has a one year low of $24.12 and a one year high of $48.41. The company has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.19 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.68.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $165.99 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $160.32 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vital Farms Profile

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.