Insider Selling: Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Major Shareholder Sells 66,200 Shares of Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) major shareholder Matthew O’Hayer sold 66,200 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total transaction of $640,816.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 6,261,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,615,869.60. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Matthew Ohayer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 6th, Matthew O’Hayer sold 3,550 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total value of $33,831.50.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of VITL traded down $0.04 on Tuesday, reaching $10.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,767,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,418. The firm has a market capitalization of $429.83 million, a PE ratio of -18.20 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.66 and a 200 day moving average of $13.59. Vital Farms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.95 and a twelve month high of $36.10.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.04). Vital Farms had a negative return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 3.03%. The firm had revenue of $182.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VITL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Vital Farms from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research raised Vital Farms from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark raised Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Craig Hallum upgraded Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $10.00 price target on Vital Farms in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,086,000. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 721.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 232,480 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 204,162 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,752,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,467,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,836,000 after acquiring an additional 447,728 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Company Profile

Vital Farms, Inc. is a food company that produces and markets pasture-raised eggs and other ethically sourced food products. Its offerings include pasture-raised eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs and ghee, sold under the Vital Farms brand. Founded in 2007, the company works with a network of family farms and focuses on animal welfare, outdoor access and supply-chain transparency. Vital Farms products are distributed primarily through grocery retailers and other food channels across the United States.