Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Craig Hallum began coverage on Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

Vital Farms Trading Down 4.5 %

NASDAQ:VITL opened at $31.00 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 27.68 and a beta of 0.95. Vital Farms has a 52-week low of $22.92 and a 52-week high of $48.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business had revenue of $165.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.32 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Vital Farms will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,628 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 668,202 shares in the company, valued at $28,224,852.48. The trade was a 6.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total transaction of $1,273,894.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,677,632.10. The trade was a 32.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 145,474 shares of company stock worth $5,969,700. 27.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VITL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 417.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,431,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961,550 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Vital Farms by 78.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,171,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,172,000 after buying an additional 516,139 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,058,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,904,000 after acquiring an additional 415,614 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 96.3% in the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 628,709 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,696,000 after acquiring an additional 308,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 105.5% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 579,808 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,853,000 after acquiring an additional 297,684 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.