The Goldman Sachs Group Cuts Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Price Target to $21.00

Key Points

• The Goldman Sachs Group has lowered its price target for Sprout Social from $24.00 to $21.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, which implies a potential upside of 36.03% from the last close.
• Other analysts have varied opinions on Sprout Social; Barclays set a target of $26.00 while Needham & Company maintains a bullish outlook with a target of $32.00.
• Sprout Social's most recent quarterly earnings report showed a revenue increase of 12.5% year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.18 exceeding estimates.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $24.00 to $21.00 in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price objective points to a potential upside of 57.07% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on SPT. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $34.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $32.00 to $23.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $30.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.42.

Sprout Social Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of Sprout Social stock traded down $0.57 on Thursday, hitting $13.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,115,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,352. The firm has a market capitalization of $777.87 million, a P/E ratio of -14.07 and a beta of 0.99. Sprout Social has a twelve month low of $13.33 and a twelve month high of $36.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.49 and a 200-day moving average of $22.85.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $111.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $110.93 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 12.70% and a negative return on equity of 25.95%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.09 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Sprout Social will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprout Social news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto sold 16,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.16, for a total transaction of $355,488.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 119,775 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,534,439. This represents a 12.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.12, for a total transaction of $844,800.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 7,417 shares in the company, valued at $156,647.04. This trade represents a 84.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 112,375 shares of company stock valued at $2,389,535. 10.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Sprout Social by 380.7% in the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,772,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $54,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403,549 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprout Social in the first quarter valued at about $13,131,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sprout Social by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 2,306,149 shares of the company's stock valued at $70,822,000 after purchasing an additional 330,155 shares during the period. Cadian Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Sprout Social by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 4,548,323 shares of the company's stock valued at $139,679,000 after purchasing an additional 263,267 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sprout Social in the first quarter valued at about $5,354,000.

Sprout Social Company Profile

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.