Millennium Management LLC Sells 1,085,961 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Millennium Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 67.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 527,267 shares of the company's stock after selling 1,085,961 shares during the quarter. Millennium Management LLC owned about 1.20% of Vital Farms worth $19,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Vital Farms by 152.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 895 shares of the company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 540 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in Vital Farms by 160.3% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth $59,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in Vital Farms by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in Vital Farms by 191.2% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the company's stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VITL. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus raised Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, 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. 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.46, for a total transaction of $589,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,970,890 shares of the company's stock, valued at $205,362,419.40. This represents a 0.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308 over the last three months. Insiders own 27.60% of the company's stock.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of VITL traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $33.23. The stock had a trading volume of 715,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,044. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $33.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.67 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.91 and a 52 week high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $164.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. Vital Farms's revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Vital Farms 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.