Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Downgraded to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) was downgraded by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $40.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $30.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 5.35% from the company’s current price.

VITL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. William Blair assumed coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. TheStreet raised Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Lake Street Capital lifted their price target on Vital Farms from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Vital Farms Trading Up 26.9 %

Shares of VITL stock opened at $37.97 on Friday. Vital Farms has a 52-week low of $10.00 and a 52-week high of $39.25. The business’s fifty day moving average is $24.38 and its 200 day moving average is $17.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a current ratio of 3.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 65.47 and a beta of 0.79.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.20. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 5.42%. The firm had revenue of $147.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $139.87 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Vital Farms will post 0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 36,948 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.07, for a total value of $926,286.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 368,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,244,637.71. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, COO Jason Dale sold 14,006 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.03, for a total value of $224,516.18. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 48,455 shares in the company, valued at $776,733.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 36,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.07, for a total transaction of $926,286.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 368,753 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,244,637.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,580,996. Insiders own 30.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VITL. Blair William & Co. IL bought a new stake in Vital Farms in the first quarter valued at $333,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 116.1% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 862,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,056,000 after purchasing an additional 463,471 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,650,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,613,000 after purchasing an additional 224,335 shares in the last quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the first quarter valued at about $2,588,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 2,006.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 148,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,454,000 after buying an additional 141,488 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

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.