Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Trading Down 3.6% – Should You Sell?

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) was down 3.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $38.62 and last traded at $38.88. Approximately 157,918 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 721,219 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VITL has been the subject of several analyst reports. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. TD Cowen upgraded Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.20.

Vital Farms Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 3.03 and a current ratio of 3.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.07 and a beta of 0.97.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $147.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $138.41 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.70% and a return on equity of 22.77%. Vital Farms’s quarterly revenue was up 38.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,653 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $1,789,245.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,531,574.43. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VITL. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new stake in Vital Farms during the first quarter worth $656,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Vital Farms by 19.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 477,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,109,000 after buying an additional 77,710 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Vital Farms by 10.4% in the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 136,958 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,184,000 after buying an additional 12,851 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Vital Farms in the first quarter valued at about $660,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new position in Vital Farms during the first quarter worth about $1,003,000. 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.