Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at Craig Hallum

Investment analysts at Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Craig Hallum’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.98% from the stock’s current price.

VITL has been the subject of several other reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.00.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $39.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.44 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.37. Vital Farms has a one year low of $14.16 and a one year high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $145.27 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. Vital Farms’s revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Vital Farms will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,653 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total transaction of $1,789,245.71. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,531,574.43. The trade was a 7.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,194,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $281,243,832.93. The trade was a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,381 shares of company stock worth $4,411,862 in the last ninety days. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vital Farms

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms during the third quarter valued at about $35,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 180.4% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,290 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its position in Vital Farms by 66.7% during the 2nd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

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.