Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Trading Down 8.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) was down 8.1% during trading on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $41.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Vital Farms traded as low as $28.31 and last traded at $28.40. Approximately 1,312,311 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 68% from the average daily volume of 778,931 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.91.

VITL has been the topic of a number of other reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Vital Farms currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Vital Farms news, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,194,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $281,243,832.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,653 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $1,789,245.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,531,574.43. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,194,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $281,243,832.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the 3rd quarter valued at $301,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Vital Farms by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 16,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 3,429 shares during the last quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 16.4% during the third quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 58,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,214 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its stake in Vital Farms by 882.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 18,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chesapeake Capital Corp IL lifted its holdings in Vital Farms by 27.9% in the third quarter. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL now owns 21,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $741,000 after acquiring an additional 4,602 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Vital Farms Stock Down 5.3 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $34.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.27 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 23.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

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.