Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Sells 24,500 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 36.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,500 shares of the company's stock after selling 24,500 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Vital Farms worth $1,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VITL. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,961,550 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Vital Farms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,236,848 shares of the company's stock worth $84,307,000 after purchasing an additional 87,980 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 78.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,171,950 shares of the company's stock worth $44,172,000 after buying an additional 516,139 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised 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 buying an additional 415,614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Vital Farms by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 955,895 shares of the company's stock worth $36,028,000 after acquiring an additional 89,772 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VITL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Monday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.63.

Vital Farms Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of VITL stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.24. 984,081 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,027,530. The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 28.79 and a beta of 0.94. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.91 and a 1 year high of $48.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $33.36 and a 200 day moving average of $35.13.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.43 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 703,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total value of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,966,890 shares in the company, valued at $218,690,677.10. This trade represents a 0.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,019,308. 27.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Vital Farms

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.