Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $30.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vital Farms traded as high as $27.41 and last traded at $27.21, with a volume of 36901 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on Vital Farms from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TheStreet raised shares of Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, William Blair started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total value of $426,408.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 223,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,463,068.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total value of $426,408.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 223,568 shares in the company, valued at $3,463,068.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Matthew Ohayer sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $367,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 7,466,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,362,532.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 260,125 shares of company stock valued at $5,580,996 over the last quarter. 30.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vital Farms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 19.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 477,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,109,000 after purchasing an additional 77,710 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Management Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the first quarter worth $2,325,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 82.1% during the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 373,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,681,000 after purchasing an additional 168,296 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the first quarter worth $656,000. Finally, Ranger Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the fourth quarter worth $3,016,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Trading Down 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.41 and its 200 day moving average is $16.83. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.14 and a beta of 0.88.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. Vital Farms had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 14.22%. The company had revenue of $135.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.