Insider Selling: Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) CMO Sells 12,300 Shares of Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) CMO Kathryn Mckeon sold 12,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total value of $517,584.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 46,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,944,222.24. The trade was a 21.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

VITL traded up $0.59 on Wednesday, reaching $42.67. 935,169 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,021,458. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 38.10 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81. Vital Farms, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.16 and a fifty-two week high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.27 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Vital Farms

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 29.7% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 937,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,859,000 after buying an additional 214,839 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 73.0% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 784,153 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,675,000 after purchasing an additional 331,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 749,659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,296,000 after purchasing an additional 31,187 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 106.8% in the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 706,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,775,000 after purchasing an additional 364,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 35.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 655,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,999,000 after purchasing 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

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on VITL shares. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Craig Hallum began coverage on Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.67.

Vital Farms Company 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.