Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Stock Rating Upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $44.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 42.90% from the company’s previous close.

VITL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.57.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VITL opened at $30.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49 and a beta of 0.90. Vital Farms has a twelve month low of $17.40 and a twelve month high of $48.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.82 and its 200-day moving average is $35.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.81, a current ratio of 3.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.08. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The company had revenue of $165.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.32 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Vital Farms will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.10, for a total transaction of $1,273,894.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 59,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,677,632.10. This trade represents a 32.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,728 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total transaction of $1,684,456.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 613,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,115,595.02. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, 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 Trading of Vital Farms

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Vital Farms by 27.0% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 8,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 1,763 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 93.9% during the third quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 531,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,646,000 after acquiring an additional 257,492 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Vital Farms in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,798,000. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Vital Farms by 106.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 7,857 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.