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 after an insider bought additional shares in the company. 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 trading hands.

Specifically, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin bought 90,661 shares of the business’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 trade represents a 372.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Sprout Social Trading Up 2.4%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.80. The stock has a market cap of $680.56 million, a P/E ratio of -14.16 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $115.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.86 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a negative net margin of 10.59%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.13 EPS. 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SPT. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the second quarter worth approximately $880,000. CenterBook Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 254.4% during the 2nd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 118,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,485,000 after purchasing an additional 85,309 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in Sprout Social by 20.4% in the second quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 237,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,964,000 after purchasing an additional 40,223 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Sprout Social by 8.7% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,392,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,026,000 after buying an additional 192,007 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC raised its holdings in Sprout Social by 357.9% during the second quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 69,813 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after buying an additional 54,567 shares in the last quarter.

Sprout Social Company Profile

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.