Man Group plc Trims Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Man Group plc lessened its holdings in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 25.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 386,183 shares of the company’s stock after selling 131,468 shares during the quarter. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.88% of Vital Farms worth $14,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 733,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,663,000 after buying an additional 129,621 shares during the period. Needham Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 455,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,149,000 after buying an additional 7,500 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 15,657 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the 4th quarter worth $6,312,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Stock Up 4.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $35.80 on Friday. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.91 and a 1 year high of $48.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.02.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $162.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company’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 company earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Vital Farms

In related news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total value of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,966,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,690,677.10. The trade was a 0.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total value 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 approximately $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VITL. Stifel Nicolaus raised Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson cut their target price on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised Vital Farms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, February 28th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.63.

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.