Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 6,438 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. $VITL

Key Points

• Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Vital Farms, acquiring 6,438 shares, bringing its total ownership to 27,644 shares valued at approximately $842,000, marking a 30.4% increase in the first quarter.
• In the same quarter, several institutional investors significantly boosted their holdings, with Caitong International Asset Management increasing its stake by 20,650%, now owning 1,660 shares valued at around $51,000.
• Vital Farms reported earnings per share of $0.36 for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations, and its revenue rose 25.4% year-over-year, totaling $184.77 million.

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 30.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,644 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,438 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Vital Farms worth $842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 20,650.0% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,660 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 1,652 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 36.2% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,929 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 43.2% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,154 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 650 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the first quarter valued at approximately $112,000. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 63.2% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 4,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 1,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Telsey Advisory Group raised their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Lake Street Capital set a $60.00 target price on Vital Farms and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $49.80.

Vital Farms Price Performance

VITL stock traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $48.56. 707,068 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,099,652. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.48 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.36 and a beta of 0.94. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.91 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.91.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $184.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.28 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 18.40% and a net margin of 7.84%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. Vital Farms has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 100,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.96, for a total transaction of $5,096,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 6,482,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $330,326,287.20. This trade represents a 1.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Stephanie Coon sold 10,005 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.15, for a total value of $461,730.75. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 45,779 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,112,700.85. This trade represents a 17.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 439,401 shares of company stock worth $21,848,580. Insiders own 21.30% of the company's stock.

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.