Osterweis Capital Management Inc. Sells 45,295 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. $VITL

Osterweis Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 332,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 45,295 shares during the quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. owned 0.74% of Vital Farms worth $12,800,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Vital Farms by 36.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,929 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 63,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after buying an additional 4,300 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the 1st quarter worth approximately $17,633,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 35,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,086,000 after acquiring an additional 3,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Vital Farms by 27.5% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 145,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,422,000 after acquiring an additional 31,329 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on VITL. Zacks Research cut Vital Farms from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Vital Farms from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Vital Farms from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Benchmark started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.64.

Vital Farms Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $33.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.92. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 25.75 and a beta of 1.06. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.87 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.65 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.06. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm had revenue of $198.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $191.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.17, for a total transaction of $829,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,391,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $211,995,772.30. This trade represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 9,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.39, for a total value of $429,118.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 666,109 shares in the company, valued at $29,568,578.51. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 64,667 shares of company stock valued at $2,245,268 over the last 90 days. 21.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.