First Trust Advisors LP Takes $4.62 Million Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

First Trust Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 122,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,620,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 152.1% during 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 in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in Vital Farms by 160.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vital Farms during the fourth quarter worth $59,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total transaction of $125,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,966,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,690,677.10. The trade was a 0.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $23,708,865.84. The trade was a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,019,308. 27.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VITL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson dropped 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. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.71.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VITL opened at $35.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.31 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.27. 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 $27.36 and a 1 year high of $48.41.

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

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.