Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Friday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $11.23, but opened at $11.79. Sprout Social shares last traded at $11.44, with a volume of 165,980 shares traded.

Specifically, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin purchased 90,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.14 per share, with a total value of $1,009,963.54. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 114,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,280,754.66. This represents a 372.97% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Sprout Social from $25.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sprout Social presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.82.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $680.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.80.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.07. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 10.59% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $115.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $114.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.13 earnings per share. Sprout Social’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sprout Social has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.770-0.790 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.150-0.170 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Sprout Social by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,548,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,605,000 after purchasing an additional 276,300 shares during the period. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Sprout Social by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 4,723,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,033,000 after acquiring an additional 421,189 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Sprout Social by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,392,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,026,000 after acquiring an additional 192,007 shares during the last quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Sprout Social during the third quarter valued at approximately $17,555,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,971,000 after purchasing an additional 18,456 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.