167,478 Shares in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Acquired by Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 167,478 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,312,000. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.38% of Vital Farms at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 34,758 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 74,593 shares in the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 10,512 shares of the company's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 91.8% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 57,957 shares of the company's stock worth $2,184,000 after buying an additional 27,733 shares in the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of Vital Farms 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 703,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. The trade was a 6.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,970,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $205,362,419.40. This represents a 0.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,124 shares of company stock worth $3,019,308 over the last ninety days. 27.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of Vital Farms stock traded up $1.55 on Friday, hitting $35.80. The company had a trading volume of 917,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,545. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.91 and a 52 week high of $48.41. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 31.96 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.03. 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 (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share 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 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Research analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VITL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley cut 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 note on Thursday, April 17th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, May 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.63.

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.