Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Increases Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 98.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,606 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 50,342 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Vital Farms were worth $3,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Vital Farms by 29.7% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 937,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,859,000 after acquiring an additional 214,839 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Vital Farms by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 253,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,888,000 after purchasing an additional 14,426 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Vital Farms by 10.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 372,583 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,066,000 after purchasing an additional 34,412 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its position in Vital Farms by 882.6% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 18,252 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 57.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 95,444 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,347,000 after buying an additional 34,758 shares during the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VITL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Craig Hallum started coverage on Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vital Farms news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.66, for a total transaction of $1,684,456.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 613,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,115,595.02. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total value of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,194,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $281,243,832.93. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,381 shares of company stock valued at $5,328,422 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VITL opened at $40.13 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of 35.83 and a beta of 0.88. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $14.16 and a 12 month high of $48.41.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $145.27 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. Vital Farms’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Vital Farms 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.