Benjamin Edwards Inc. Takes Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 29,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,114,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VITL. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Vital Farms by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,347,000 after purchasing an additional 34,758 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 10.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 372,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,066,000 after acquiring an additional 34,412 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 35.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 655,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,999,000 after acquiring an additional 172,249 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 38.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 266,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,343,000 after acquiring an additional 74,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in Vital Farms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,765,000. Institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. The trade was a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total value of $784,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,942,890 shares in the company, valued at $226,893,645.20. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308. 27.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VITL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised Vital Farms to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.63.

Vital Farms Stock Down 9.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VITL opened at $32.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20 and a beta of 0.94. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.91 and a 12-month high of $48.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

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.