Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on VITL shares. Craig Hallum began coverage on Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Telsey Advisory Group restated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Thursday, March 13th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company.

Insider Transactions at Vital Farms

In other Vital Farms news, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total transaction of $1,273,894.60. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 59,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,677,632.10. The trade was a 32.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total transaction of $125,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,966,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,690,677.10. This trade represents a 0.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 145,474 shares of company stock worth $5,969,700 over the last three months. 27.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nordea Investment Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the fourth quarter worth about $2,765,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Vital Farms by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 266,398 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,343,000 after purchasing an additional 74,593 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $699,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Vital Farms by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 372,583 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,066,000 after buying an additional 34,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Vital Farms by 57.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,347,000 after buying an additional 34,758 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

Shares of VITL stock opened at $34.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24. Vital Farms has a fifty-two week low of $24.52 and a fifty-two week high of $48.41. The company has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.37 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $32.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.60.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.08. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $165.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.32 million. Analysts expect that Vital Farms will post 1.11 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.