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

Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $49.80.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Telsey Advisory Group increased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vital Farms

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 9,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.39, for a total value of $429,118.13. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 666,109 shares in the company, valued at $29,568,578.51. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joanne Bal sold 4,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $244,356.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 43,332 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,207,765.40. The trade was a 9.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 407,868 shares of company stock worth $20,692,884 over the last three months. 21.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VITL. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 53.2% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 23,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $706,000 after acquiring an additional 8,049 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 8,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Impact Investors Inc lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Impact Investors Inc now owns 25,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,209,564 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,855,000 after acquiring an additional 37,614 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 48.0% during the 1st quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 185,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,637,000 after acquiring an additional 60,000 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

Shares of VITL stock opened at $34.88 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.27. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14 and a beta of 0.92. Vital Farms has a 1 year low of $27.91 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.48.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $184.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.28 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 18.40% and a net margin of 7.84%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 earnings per share. Vital Farms has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts predict 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.