Stifel Nicolaus Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Stock

Key Points

• Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target for Sprout Social from $12 to $14 and maintained a “buy” rating, implying 25% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: four analysts rate the stock a Buy, four Hold, and two Sell, resulting in a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $10.88.
• Sprout Social exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.26 in EPS versus the $0.16 consensus and revenue of $123.85 million versus estimates of $122.19 million; meanwhile, several institutional investors increased their positions.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $12.00 to $14.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus' price target suggests a potential upside of 25.00% from the stock's previous close.

SPT has been the topic of several other reports. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $6.00 to $7.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen raised Sprout Social from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Sprout Social from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.88.

Sprout Social Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ SPT opened at $11.20 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $10.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.16. The company has a market cap of $678.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.40 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Sprout Social has a 12-month low of $4.92 and a 12-month high of $12.06.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.10. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 6.13% and a negative return on equity of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.19 million. Sprout Social has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.110-1.150 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.290-0.300 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sprout Social will post -0.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Justyn Howard sold 40,000 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total transaction of $440,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,417 shares in the company, valued at $81,735.34. The trade was a 84.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 51,612 shares of company stock valued at $573,757. 9.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprout Social

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Haveli Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $16,405,033. LB Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 144.7% during the first quarter. LB Partners LLC now owns 1,510,979 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,613,000 after purchasing an additional 893,502 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 79.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 727,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,148,000 after purchasing an additional 322,200 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 252.2% during the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 626,762 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,573,000 after purchasing an additional 448,783 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Sprout Social by 46.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 442,496 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,522,000 after purchasing an additional 141,258 shares during the period.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc NASDAQ: SPT provides a cloud-based social media management and analytics platform for businesses, agencies and organizations. Its software helps customers manage their social media presence, coordinate workflows and use social data to support marketing, customer care, communications and business decision-making.

The company's platform includes tools for publishing and scheduling content, monitoring and responding to messages, analyzing social media performance, and conducting social listening.

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