Craig Hallum Initiates Coverage on Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL)

Stock analysts at Craig Hallum started coverage on shares of Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum’s price objective points to a potential upside of 25.98% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Vital Farms Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ VITL opened at $39.69 on Friday. Vital Farms has a one year low of $14.16 and a one year high of $48.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.44 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $34.83 and its 200-day moving average is $36.37.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.27 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.10 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vital Farms will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,728 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total value of $1,684,456.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 613,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,115,595.02. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total transaction of $938,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,194,777 shares in the company, valued at $281,243,832.93. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 113,381 shares of company stock valued at $4,411,862 in the last 90 days. 27.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VITL. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Vital Farms by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 937,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,859,000 after acquiring an additional 214,839 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 73.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 784,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,675,000 after purchasing an additional 331,000 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 4.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 749,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,296,000 after purchasing an additional 31,187 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 106.8% in the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 706,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,775,000 after purchasing an additional 364,837 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 73.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 679,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,766,000 after buying an additional 288,039 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.