Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $30.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vital Farms traded as high as $27.41 and last traded at $27.21, with a volume of 36901 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.00.

VITL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Lake Street Capital increased their target price on Vital Farms from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair began coverage on Vital Farms in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vital Farms has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total transaction of $426,408.72. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,463,068.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total transaction of $426,408.72. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 223,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,463,068.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman Matthew Ohayer sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.38, for a total value of $2,138,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 7,582,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,119,772.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 260,125 shares of company stock worth $5,580,996. Corporate insiders own 30.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Vital Farms by 211.4% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 4,192 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Vital Farms by 52.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 8,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 2,833 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new position in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at about $127,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Vital Farms by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 10,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 3,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Vital Farms during the 3rd quarter valued at about $119,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Stock Down 0.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 3.00, a quick ratio of 2.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 46.14 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.83.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $135.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.10 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 5.42%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Vital Farms

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.