Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 148,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,587,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Vital Farms by 152.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 160.3% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter worth about $59,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vital Farms news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total value of $784,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,942,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,893,645.20. This represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total transaction of $1,520,227.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,708,865.84. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Trading Down 1.2%

VITL opened at $34.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. The company has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.50 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.05. Vital Farms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.91 and a fifty-two week high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. Vital Farms’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on 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 research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Vital Farms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.63.

Vital Farms 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.