Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $44.63.

Several analysts have commented on VITL shares. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, May 5th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. DA Davidson cut their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Vital Farms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Vital Farms Stock Up 1.2%

Vital Farms stock opened at $30.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.57 and a beta of 0.89. Vital Farms has a 52 week low of $27.91 and a 52 week high of $48.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $33.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $162.19 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. Vital Farms’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Vital Farms will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Vital Farms

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total value of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,966,890 shares in the company, valued at $218,690,677.10. This represents a 0.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 152.1% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 20,650.0% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,660 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 1,652 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Company 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.