Needham & Company LLC Lowers Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Price Target to $14.00

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $32.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 117.05% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $16.00) on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $26.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.11.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

Shares of Sprout Social stock opened at $6.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $381.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.72 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.12 and its 200 day moving average is $11.11. Sprout Social has a 1 year low of $6.03 and a 1 year high of $27.81. 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 (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $120.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.68 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 9.47% and a negative return on equity of 16.51%. 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 anticipate that Sprout Social will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider owned 7,417 shares in the company, valued at $79,361.90. This represents a 84.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto acquired 93,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $10.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,809.28. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 875,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,338,981.52. The trade was a 12.03% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SPT. Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its position in Sprout Social by 399.0% during the fourth quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 2,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 2,015 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprout Social in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new position in shares of Sprout Social during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sprout Social by 78.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,531 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew 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 valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 3,388 shares during the period.

Sprout Social News Roundup

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.