Canaccord Genuity Group Reiterates Hold Rating for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $9.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $16.00. Canaccord Genuity Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 39.53% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently commented on SPT. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Sprout Social from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $26.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sprout Social presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.11.

Sprout Social Stock Down 9.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:SPT opened at $6.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $381.78 million, a P/E ratio of -8.72 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. Sprout Social has a 1-year low of $6.03 and a 1-year high of $27.81.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 9.47% and a negative return on equity of 16.51%. The company had revenue of $120.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.68 million. Sprout Social has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.970 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.150-0.160 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Sprout Social will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin purchased 90,661 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.14 per share, with a total value of $1,009,963.54. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 114,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,280,754.66. The trade was a 372.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.70, for a total value of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,361.90. The trade was a 84.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprout Social by 399.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 2,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 2,015 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprout Social in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in shares of Sprout Social in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Sprout Social by 78.9% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 2,754.5% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 3,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 3,388 shares in the last quarter.

Key Sprout Social News

Here are the key news stories impacting Sprout Social this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates and management raised guidance — Sprout reported $0.20 non‑GAAP EPS and $120.9M revenue (both above consensus) and issued Q1 and FY‑2026 non‑GAAP EPS and revenue guidance well above prior expectations; this supports the company’s claim of improving profitability and cash generation. SPT Beats Q4 Sales Expectations (Yahoo)
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic catalysts: management set a new target (30% Rule of 40 on a non‑GAAP basis by Q4 2027), highlighted growth in $30K+ customers (22% subscription revenue growth contribution) and promoted AI product Trellis — these initiatives aim to lift enterprise ARPU and margins over time. Quiver: Targets 30% Rule of 40
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and disclosures provide detail but mixed signals — transcripts and slide deck show recurring GAAP losses alongside improving non‑GAAP profitability and higher deferred revenue/RPO, giving investors both runway and execution risk to weigh. Seeking Alpha: Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts pared targets and some issued downgrades after the print — KeyCorp cut its target to $6 and moved to underweight, Canaccord trimmed its target to $9 (hold), and Needham sharply reduced a prior $32 target to $14 (still buy); the headline KeyCorp move and mixed analyst views are likely driving near‑term selling pressure. These Analysts Cut Their Forecasts On Sprout Social After Q4 Earnings (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying fundamentals still show GAAP losses and retention headwinds — Sprout reported a GAAP net loss, negative net margin and dollar‑based net retention of 100% (down from 104%), which keeps execution risk and future growth sustainability on investors’ radar. Quiver: Financial & Customer Metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and institutional flows look unfavorable in recent filings — Quiver/other summaries show multiple insider sales and notable institutional reductions by some large holders, which can amplify downside momentum even when results beat. Quiver: Insider & Institutional Activity

About Sprout Social

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.