Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $75.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 47.12% from the stock’s current price.

SPT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Sprout Social from $65.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Sprout Social from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on Sprout Social in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sprout Social in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sprout Social has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.57.

Sprout Social Price Performance

Shares of SPT opened at $50.98 on Monday. Sprout Social has a 12-month low of $37.00 and a 12-month high of $68.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of -42.48 and a beta of 1.05.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 41.25% and a negative net margin of 19.91%. The firm had revenue of $93.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.76 million. Analysts anticipate that Sprout Social will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Ryan Paul Barretto sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $333,928.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 209,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,485,031.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 44,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total transaction of $2,622,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 40,888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,436,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Ryan Paul Barretto sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total value of $333,928.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 209,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,485,031.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 140,200 shares of company stock worth $8,171,958. Corporate insiders own 11.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 3.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,084,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,609,000 after purchasing an additional 191,471 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 244.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,124,376 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 1.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,958,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,021,000 after acquiring an additional 67,321 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,953,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,183,000 after acquiring an additional 853,127 shares during the period. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 15.0% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,779,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $161,388,000 after acquiring an additional 363,381 shares during the period.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.