Arizona State Retirement System Makes New $356,000 Investment in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,604 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VITL. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Vital Farms by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 47,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 4,573 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Vital Farms by 66.7% in the second quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $323,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Vital Farms by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $753,000. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Price Performance

NASDAQ:VITL opened at $32.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.50 and a quick ratio of 3.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.13. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.41 and a 1-year high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $147.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $138.41 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.70% and a return on equity of 22.77%. The firm’s revenue was up 38.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.15 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.60.

Insider Transactions at Vital Farms

In other news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $949,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,266,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,619,033.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $949,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,266,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $287,619,033.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,381 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total transaction of $1,939,893.51. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 427,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,700,842.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 30.20% of the company’s stock.

About Vital Farms

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.