Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Trading Down 5.7% – Should You Sell?

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)’s stock price traded down 5.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $38.09 and last traded at $41.40. 733,088 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 1,039,834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $43.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on VITL. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $34.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Telsey Advisory Group assumed coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research note on Monday, January 27th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.57.

Vital Farms Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.12 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.02. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.27 million. During the same period last year, the company 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, analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total value of $1,273,894.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 59,371 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,632.10. The trade was a 32.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.19, for a total value of $1,036,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,014,890 shares in the company, valued at $302,973,099.10. This trade represents a 0.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 190,202 shares of company stock valued at $7,855,957. Corporate insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $291,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Vital Farms by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,171,950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,172,000 after purchasing an additional 516,139 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Vital Farms by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth $298,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 112.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,000 after buying an additional 2,957 shares in the last quarter. 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.