Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 43.98% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $76.00 to $43.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on Sprout Social from $70.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sprout Social from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays decreased their price objective on Sprout Social from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.43.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

NASDAQ SPT opened at $38.20 on Wednesday. Sprout Social has a 1 year low of $25.68 and a 1 year high of $68.41. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.56 and a beta of 1.00.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $96.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.29 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 19.64% and a negative return on equity of 42.51%. As a group, research analysts expect that Sprout Social will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Ryan Paul Barretto sold 15,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $500,934.04. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 484,115 shares in the company, valued at $15,559,456.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, President Ryan Paul Barretto sold 15,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.14, for a total value of $500,934.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 484,115 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,559,456.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.13, for a total value of $722,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,388,013.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 92,470 shares of company stock valued at $3,063,248 in the last three months. 10.97% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SPT. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Sprout Social during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprout Social in the first quarter worth about $37,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Sprout Social by 35,450.0% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI boosted its holdings in Sprout Social by 36.7% in the 4th quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 281 shares during the period.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.