Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Stock Price Down 2.8% – Should You Sell?

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)’s stock price traded down 2.8% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $38.11 and last traded at $38.23. 204,684 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 815,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VITL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Craig Hallum assumed 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Vital Farms Stock Down 3.0 %

The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.23.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total transaction of $1,684,456.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 613,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,115,595.02. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,194,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $281,243,832.93. This trade represents a 0.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,328,422 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VITL. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 13.8% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 1.2% during the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 483,562 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,616,000 after buying an additional 5,736 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the second quarter valued at $487,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter valued at $725,000. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new position in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter worth about $753,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Company 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.