Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Free Report) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $44.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $80.00.

SPT has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Sprout Social in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sprout Social in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Robert W. Baird cut Sprout Social from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler cut Sprout Social from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp cut Sprout Social from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sprout Social has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $57.07.

Sprout Social Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SPT traded down $19.33 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $28.82. The company had a trading volume of 13,463,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 753,273. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of -24.02 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $56.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.85. Sprout Social has a 1-year low of $27.85 and a 1-year high of $68.41.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $93.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.76 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 41.25% and a negative net margin of 19.91%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sprout Social will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprout Social news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 44,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total value of $2,622,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 40,888 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,436,924.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 44,000 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total value of $2,622,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 40,888 shares in the company, valued at $2,436,924.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total value of $2,334,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 287,912 shares in the company, valued at $16,802,544.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,200 shares of company stock valued at $8,171,958 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.97% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPT. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,084,389 shares of the company's stock valued at $253,609,000 after purchasing an additional 191,471 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company's stock valued at $219,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,376 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,953,155 shares of the company's stock valued at $197,183,000 after purchasing an additional 853,127 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,532,339 shares of the company's stock valued at $155,587,000 after purchasing an additional 153,642 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,137,422 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,625,000 after purchasing an additional 311,146 shares during the period.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.