Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Reaches New 1-Year High at $24.04

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $24.04 and last traded at $24.04, with a volume of 74592 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.21.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. TheStreet upgraded Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Vital Farms from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Vital Farms in a report on Friday, December 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.25.

Vital Farms Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $997.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.02 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $14.55.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $135.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.10 million. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 14.22% and a net margin of 5.42%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Vital Farms

In related news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 26,096 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.23, for a total value of $397,442.08. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 220,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,351,513.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Vital Farms news, Chairman Matthew Ohayer sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.95, for a total transaction of $367,200.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 7,466,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $171,362,532.15. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 26,096 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.23, for a total value of $397,442.08. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 220,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,351,513.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 232,737 shares of company stock valued at $4,495,722 over the last 90 days. 30.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VITL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,019,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,174,000 after purchasing an additional 524,679 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,062,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,884,000 after acquiring an additional 413,475 shares during the period. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,327,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,295,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,561,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,702,000 after acquiring an additional 261,295 shares during the period. 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.