Two Sigma Investments LP Cuts Stock Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Two Sigma Investments LP cut its holdings in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 65.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 215,017 shares of the company's stock after selling 399,910 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned 0.49% of Vital Farms worth $8,104,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in 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 period. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 7,250 shares of the company's stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 1,534 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 11,800 shares of the company's stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 4,700 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the fourth quarter valued at $199,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 112.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,579 shares of the company's stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 2,957 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total transaction of $1,520,227.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 703,736 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. This trade represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 6,970,890 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold a total of 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308 in the last 90 days. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VITL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group restated 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 raised shares of Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, February 28th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Vital Farms has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.63.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VITL traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.03. The company had a trading volume of 146,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,022,850. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.58 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Vital Farms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.91 and a fifty-two week high of $48.41.

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

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.