Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Upgraded at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $44.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VITL. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.57.

Vital Farms Trading Up 7.5 %

Shares of VITL opened at $33.11 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Vital Farms has a 12-month low of $17.55 and a 12-month high of $48.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56 and a beta of 0.90.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $165.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.32 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vital Farms will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vital Farms

In other news, CMO Kathryn Mckeon sold 12,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total transaction of $517,584.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 46,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,944,222.24. This represents a 21.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total transaction of $1,273,894.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,371 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,632.10. This represents a 32.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 190,202 shares of company stock valued at $7,855,957. 27.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 417.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,431,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,625,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961,550 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 78.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,171,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,172,000 after acquiring an additional 516,139 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,058,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,904,000 after acquiring an additional 415,614 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 106.8% in the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 706,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,775,000 after acquiring an additional 364,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.