Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.71.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson decreased their target price on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $29.79 on Tuesday. Vital Farms has a fifty-two week low of $22.82 and a fifty-two week high of $48.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60 and a beta of 0.95.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $165.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.32 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Vital Farms will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total value of $1,273,894.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 59,371 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,632.10. This represents a 32.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,628 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.24, for a total value of $1,885,086.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 668,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,224,852.48. This trade represents a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 141,474 shares of company stock worth $5,844,140 in the last three months. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cim LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 80.7% in the fourth quarter. Cim LLC now owns 12,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 5,554 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 88,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,343,000 after purchasing an additional 14,432 shares during the period. Sapience Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Sapience Investments LLC now owns 77,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,928,000 after purchasing an additional 10,235 shares during the period. Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the fourth quarter worth $892,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 733,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,663,000 after purchasing an additional 129,621 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Company 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.