Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Trading 5.7% Higher – Should You Buy?

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) shares traded up 5.7% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $32.77 and last traded at $32.43. 20,697 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 283,698 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.69.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SPT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Sprout Social from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Sprout Social from $48.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $28.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.46.

Sprout Social Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.70 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $30.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.49.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.06). Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 17.24% and a negative return on equity of 40.94%. The company had revenue of $102.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.04 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto sold 16,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total value of $520,632.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 153,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,753,091.25. This trade represents a 9.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.23, for a total transaction of $564,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,417 shares in the company, valued at $209,381.91. This trade represents a 72.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 73,565 shares of company stock worth $2,196,911. Corporate insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 2,346.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 783 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social in the 2nd quarter worth $218,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Sprout Social during the 3rd quarter worth $265,000. Finally, CFM Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Sprout Social during the 3rd quarter valued at about $355,000.

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.