Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Director Denny Marie Post Acquires 3,000 Shares

Key Points

• Vital Farms director Denny Marie Post bought 3,000 shares at an average price of $8.23, increasing her holdings by 18.39% to 19,312 shares. The transaction was disclosed in an SEC filing.
• The company recently missed earnings expectations, reporting a quarterly loss of $0.03 per share versus estimates for a $0.09 profit, even though revenue rose 15.4% year over year to $187.16 million.
• Investor sentiment remains pressured by legal and analyst concerns, including securities class-action reminders and multiple rating downgrades. Wall Street currently has a consensus “Hold” rating on VITL.

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) Director Denny Marie Post bought 3,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.23 per share, for a total transaction of $24,690.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,312 shares of the company's stock, valued at $158,937.76. This trade represents a 18.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

NASDAQ VITL traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $8.48. The company had a trading volume of 4,424,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,712,646. Vital Farms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.95 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.44. The firm has a market cap of $363.37 million, a P/E ratio of 8.15 and a beta of 1.20.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.12). Vital Farms had a return on equity of 14.47% and a net margin of 6.10%.The company had revenue of $187.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Vital Farms's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.45 EPS for the current year.

Key Vital Farms News

Here are the key news stories impacting Vital Farms this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Several law firms issued reminders about the upcoming May 26 lead-plaintiff deadline in the Vital Farms securities class action, keeping legal risk in focus for shareholders.
• Negative Sentiment: The repeated class-action notices may pressure Vital Farms shares by highlighting alleged securities-law violations and extending uncertainty around the company’s outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor attention remains on the company’s recent earnings miss, which likely compounds the negative reaction to the litigation headlines.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 22.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,845,714 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,892,000 after purchasing an additional 530,008 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,687,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,831,000 after purchasing an additional 324,725 shares during the period. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 1,998.7% in the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,933,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,775 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 41.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,153,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,400,000 after purchasing an additional 632,537 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,047,955 shares of the company's stock valued at $65,412,000 after purchasing an additional 26,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VITL. Telsey Advisory Group cut Vital Farms from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and set a $11.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Vital Farms from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Benchmark cut Vital Farms from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $16.00 price target (down from $47.00) on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Vital Farms from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Vital Farms currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.33.

Vital Farms Company Profile

Vital Farms, traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol VITL, is a U.S.-based food company specializing in pasture-raised egg and dairy products. The company partners with a network of family farms across the United States to produce eggs, butter and related items under a certified humane, pasture-centric farming model. Vital Farms' supply chain emphasizes animal welfare, environmental stewardship and transparent sourcing, appealing to consumers seeking ethically produced, high-quality ingredients.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Vital Farms began by marketing pasture-raised eggs to health- and ethically minded shoppers.

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