Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Position Lessened by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) by 33.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,489 shares of the company's stock after selling 52,068 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.23% of Vital Farms worth $3,153,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in shares of Vital Farms by 152.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 895 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the first quarter valued at about $112,000. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the first quarter valued at about $130,000. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Vital Farms by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,487 shares of the company's stock valued at $131,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Vital Farms by 2,059.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,003 shares of the company's stock valued at $197,000 after purchasing an additional 5,725 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of VITL stock opened at $36.38 on Friday. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.91 and a 12-month high of $45.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.48 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 3.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.50 and a 200-day moving average of $35.21.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 8.26% and a return on equity of 19.53%. The firm's revenue was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho initiated coverage on Vital Farms in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.67.

Insider Activity

In other Vital Farms news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.34, for a total value of $201,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,872,070 shares of the company's stock, valued at $277,219,303.80. This represents a 0.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thilo Wrede sold 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.97, for a total transaction of $46,764.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 56,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,189,607.39. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,400 shares of company stock worth $2,413,630 over the last three months. 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.

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