Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Stock Price Up 8.3%

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL – Get Rating) shares rose 8.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $13.08 and last traded at $13.06. Approximately 2,810 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 99% from the average daily volume of 331,610 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VITL. Morgan Stanley raised Vital Farms from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $12.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Vital Farms from $20.00 to $15.00 in a research report on Friday, May 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.30.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $549.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -193.43 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $9.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.91.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. Vital Farms had a negative return on equity of 1.71% and a negative net margin of 0.93%. The business had revenue of $77.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Matthew Ohayer bought 10,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $9.66 per share, with a total value of $96,600.00. Following the acquisition, the chairman now owns 7,975,494 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,043,272.04. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 41.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Vital Farms by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 23,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,757,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Vital Farms by 160.2% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 2,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,774,000. 73.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vital Farms Company Profile

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