Man Group plc Sells 131,468 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Man Group plc decreased its stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 25.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 386,183 shares of the company's stock after selling 131,468 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned 0.88% of Vital Farms worth $14,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $699,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 57.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,444 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,347,000 after buying an additional 34,758 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,236,848 shares of the company's stock valued at $84,307,000 after buying an additional 87,980 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Vital Farms by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 761,380 shares of the company's stock worth $28,703,000 after buying an additional 11,721 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on VITL shares. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Monday, May 5th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.63.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VITL traded down $0.98 during trading on Friday, reaching $33.36. 106,815 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,022,968. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.91 and a 12 month high of $48.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.02. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.91 and a beta of 0.94.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.11. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The business had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $164.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total value of $1,520,227.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.46, for a total value of $589,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,970,890 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $205,362,419.40. This trade represents a 0.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308. 27.60% of the stock is owned by company 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.