Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Purchases New Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 148,225 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,587,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.34% of Vital Farms as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in Vital Farms by 57.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,444 shares of the company's stock worth $3,347,000 after buying an additional 34,758 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Vital Farms by 35.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 655,811 shares of the company's stock worth $22,999,000 after buying an additional 172,249 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Vital Farms by 38.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 266,398 shares of the company's stock worth $9,343,000 after buying an additional 74,593 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $62,000. Finally, Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership raised its position in Vital Farms by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Foresight Group Ltd Liability Partnership now owns 18,286 shares of the company's stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 2,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on VITL. 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. DA Davidson dropped 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. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.63.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Vital Farms stock traded up $1.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $35.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 917,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,523. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $32.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96 and a beta of 0.94. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.91 and a 12 month high of $48.41. 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 (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $164.43 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total transaction of $1,520,227.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 703,736 shares in the company, valued at $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $205,362,419.40. The trade was a 0.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,019,308 in the last quarter. 27.60% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.