Insider Selling: Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Major Shareholder Sells 66,200 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Major shareholder Matthew O’Hayer sold 66,200 Vital Farms shares for $640,816 at an average price of $9.68, reducing his stake by 1.05; he retained 6,261,970 shares.
• Vital Farms’ latest quarter missed earnings expectations: EPS was a loss of $0.15 versus the forecast loss of $0.11, while revenue of $182.16 million slightly exceeded estimates but fell 8.4% year over year.
• Analysts have a consensus Hold rating and an average price target of $16.58; the stock traded at $10.01 in the report.

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) major shareholder Matthew O'Hayer sold 66,200 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total transaction of $640,816.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 6,261,970 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $60,615,869.60. The trade was a 1.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Major shareholders that own 10% or more of a company's shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Matthew Ohayer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 6th, Matthew O'Hayer sold 3,550 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total value of $33,831.50.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of VITL traded down $0.04 on Tuesday, reaching $10.01. The stock had a trading volume of 1,767,320 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,279,418. The firm has a market capitalization of $429.83 million, a PE ratio of -18.20 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $9.66 and a 200 day moving average of $13.59. Vital Farms, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.95 and a twelve month high of $36.10.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.04). Vital Farms had a negative return on equity of 3.74% and a negative net margin of 3.03%. The firm had revenue of $182.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $181.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VITL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Vital Farms from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Zacks Research raised Vital Farms from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark raised Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Craig Hallum upgraded Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $12.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $10.00 price target on Vital Farms in a research report on Tuesday, October 27th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $16.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter worth about $8,086,000. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 721.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cygnus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 232,480 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,704,000 after acquiring an additional 204,162 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,752,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,467,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,836,000 after acquiring an additional 447,728 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Company Profile

Vital Farms, Inc. is a food company that produces and markets pasture-raised eggs and other ethically sourced food products. Its offerings include pasture-raised eggs, butter, hard-boiled eggs and ghee, sold under the Vital Farms brand. Founded in 2007, the company works with a network of family farms and focuses on animal welfare, outdoor access and supply-chain transparency. Vital Farms products are distributed primarily through grocery retailers and other food channels across the United States.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.