Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Major Shareholder Sells $33,831.50 in Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) major shareholder Matthew O’Hayer sold 3,550 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $33,831.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,328,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,307,460.10. This trade represents a 0.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Matthew Ohayer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 9th, Matthew O’Hayer sold 66,200 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total transaction of $640,816.00.

Vital Farms Trading Down 5.3%

Shares of Vital Farms stock opened at $8.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.95 and a 12-month high of $36.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $385.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.31 and a beta of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.30.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $182.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.78 million. Vital Farms had a negative return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 3.03%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VITL. DA Davidson set a $10.00 target price on Vital Farms in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings lowered Vital Farms from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Vital Farms from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.64.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter worth about $60,153,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 1,998.7% during the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,933,000 after buying an additional 2,153,775 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 41.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,153,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,400,000 after buying an additional 632,537 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 46.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,836,000 after buying an additional 447,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the second quarter worth about $12,975,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc. is a food company that produces and markets pasture-raised eggs and butter. Its products are sold under the Vital Farms brand and include shell eggs, hard-boiled eggs and butter. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company works with a network of family farms that raise hens on pasture. Vital Farms sources its products from farms primarily across the United States. The company distributes its products through grocery retailers and other food channels, including foodservice.