Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $589,000 Stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 16,793 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Vital Farms were worth $589,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Vital Farms during the second quarter worth $2,300,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Vital Farms by 29.7% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 937,755 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,859,000 after acquiring an additional 214,839 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its position in Vital Farms by 882.6% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 18,252 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its position in Vital Farms by 106.8% during the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 706,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,775,000 after acquiring an additional 364,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Vital Farms by 35.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 655,811 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,999,000 after acquiring an additional 172,249 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VITL has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

Vital Farms Price Performance

NASDAQ:VITL opened at $32.34 on Thursday. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $12.44 and a 52 week high of $48.41. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.27 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.10 earnings per share. Vital Farms’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,653 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,531,574.43. This trade represents a 7.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total transaction of $938,160.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,194,777 shares in the company, 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. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vital Farms Profile

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.