Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Stock Has Average Price Target of $16.45

Key Points

• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with a “Hold” consensus: Of 14 brokerages, seven rate Vital Farms a hold, six a buy, and one a sell. Their average 12-month price target is $16.45.
• Shares opened at $9.52, near the low end of their 52-week range of $7.95–$36.10; recent analyst target changes were mixed, including cuts from Needham and Stifel.
• Quarterly results were mixed: Vital Farms posted an adjusted loss of $0.15 per share, missing estimates of a $0.11 loss, while revenue of $182.16 million slightly topped expectations but fell 8.4% year over year.

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.45.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VITL shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Vital Farms from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Vital Farms from $11.00 to $9.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $9.52 on Friday. Vital Farms has a fifty-two week low of $7.95 and a fifty-two week high of $36.10. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $9.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $408.79 million, a P/E ratio of -17.31 and a beta of 1.16.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $182.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.78 million. Vital Farms had a negative net margin of 3.03% and a negative return on equity of 3.74%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Vital Farms will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Vital Farms during the second quarter worth about $60,153,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in Vital Farms by 1,998.7% in the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,933,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,775 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 41.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,153,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,400,000 after purchasing an additional 632,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,836,000 after purchasing an additional 447,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,975,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company's stock.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc is a food company that produces and markets pasture-raised eggs and other ethically sourced food products. Its offerings include pasture-raised eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs and ghee, sold under the Vital Farms brand.

Founded in 2007, the company works with a network of family farms and focuses on animal welfare, outdoor access and supply-chain transparency. Vital Farms products are distributed primarily through grocery retailers and other food channels across the United States.

Vital Farms is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.