Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) by 67.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,031 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,646 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sprout Social were worth $1,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SPT. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sprout Social by 162.5% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 74,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,568,000 after acquiring an additional 46,033 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 61,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after buying an additional 18,644 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in Sprout Social by 244.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,692,000 after buying an additional 3,124,376 shares during the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Sprout Social by 16.6% in the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,899 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,000 after buying an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sprout Social by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,084,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,609,000 after buying an additional 191,471 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $74.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Sprout Social from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sprout Social from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Sprout Social from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $65.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sprout Social currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.07.

Sprout Social Stock Down 0.7 %

SPT stock opened at $26.90 on Thursday. Sprout Social, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.68 and a fifty-two week high of $68.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.52 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $54.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $93.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.76 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 42.60% and a negative net margin of 19.64%. As a group, analysts forecast that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total value of $2,334,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,802,544.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total value of $2,334,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,912 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,802,544.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $1,252,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 44,487 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,533,534.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 110,600 shares of company stock worth $5,738,830 in the last three months. 10.97% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sprout Social Company Profile

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.