Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) shares gapped up before the market opened on Friday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $11.23, but opened at $11.79. Sprout Social shares last traded at $11.44, with a volume of 165,980 shares.

Specifically, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin bought 90,661 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.14 per share, with a total value of $1,009,963.54. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 114,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,280,754.66. This represents a 372.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SPT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $25.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.82.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $672.40 million, a P/E ratio of -14.02 and a beta of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $115.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.86 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a negative net margin of 10.59%.Sprout Social’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. Sprout Social has set its FY 2025 guidance at 0.770-0.790 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.150-0.170 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in Sprout Social during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 85.2% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 78.9% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Sprout Social by 2,754.5% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 3,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 266.3% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 2,860 shares during the last quarter.

Sprout Social Company Profile

Sprout Social (NASDAQ: SPT) is a Chicago-based software company specializing in social media management solutions for businesses of all sizes. The company provides a cloud-based platform designed to help organizations improve their social media presence through a suite of tools for content scheduling, community engagement, social listening and analytics. Sprout Social’s platform is built to streamline the workflows of marketing, customer care and public relations teams by providing a centralized hub for managing multiple social channels.

The company’s product offerings include publishing and scheduling capabilities that allow users to plan and automate social content across networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.