Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Buy" from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $44.63.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VITL. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Vital Farms to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price target 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 45,124 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.69, for a total value of $1,520,227.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 703,736 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,708,865.84. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total value of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,966,890 shares in the company, valued at $218,690,677.10. The trade was a 0.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 93,124 shares of company stock valued at $3,019,308. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 0.4% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 75,420 shares of the company's stock worth $2,298,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,487 shares of the company's stock worth $131,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 36.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,929 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Vital Farms by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 8,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company's stock.

Vital Farms Trading Down 0.2%

Vital Farms stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $31.40. The stock had a trading volume of 460,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,027,317. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $33.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.16. Vital Farms has a twelve month low of $27.91 and a twelve month high of $48.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.04 and a beta of 0.94.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $164.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.43 EPS. Vital Farms's quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Vital Farms will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

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.