Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

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

VITL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

Vital Farms Trading Up 3.8%

NASDAQ:VITL opened at $33.82 on Wednesday. Vital Farms has a 52 week low of $27.91 and a 52 week high of $48.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.20 and a beta of 0.94.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Vital Farms will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Monday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.68, for a total transaction of $784,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,942,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $226,893,645.20. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 703,736 shares in the company, valued at $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,019,308 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised 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 buying an additional 872 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Vital Farms in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in Vital Farms by 29.4% in the fourth 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 currently owned by institutional investors.

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.