Marshall Wace LLP Buys 48,847 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 793,031 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 48,847 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 1.81% of Vital Farms worth $29,889,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Vital Farms by 152.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Vital Farms by 160.3% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Price Performance

NASDAQ VITL opened at $32.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.75 and a 1-year high of $48.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.46 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $32.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.53.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $165.99 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $160.32 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. On average, equities analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Vital Farms

In other news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.19, for a total transaction of $1,036,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,014,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,973,099.10. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,736 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,271,548. 27.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VITL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Craig Hallum started coverage on Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.13.

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.