Vital Farms’ (VITL) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at William Blair

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at William Blair in a research note issued on Friday,RTT News reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on VITL. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on Vital Farms in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Vital Farms has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $44.57.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

Shares of VITL stock traded up $1.36 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,452,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,213,254. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.64. Vital Farms has a twelve month low of $17.55 and a twelve month high of $48.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 28.66 and a beta of 0.90. 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 (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. The business 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Vital Farms will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,728 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total value of $1,684,456.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 613,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,115,595.02. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.19, for a total transaction of $1,036,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,014,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $302,973,099.10. This represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 190,202 shares of company stock worth $7,855,957. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 417.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,431,024 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,625,000 after buying an additional 1,961,550 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vital Farms by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,236,848 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,307,000 after acquiring an additional 87,980 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Vital Farms by 78.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,171,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,172,000 after acquiring an additional 516,139 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in Vital Farms by 64.6% during the 4th quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,058,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,904,000 after acquiring an additional 415,614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Vital Farms by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 955,895 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,028,000 after acquiring an additional 89,772 shares in 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.