Blair William & Co. IL Invests $428,000 in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 11,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VITL. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 160.3% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in Vital Farms by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in shares of Vital Farms by 191.2% in the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 87.1% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Vital Farms

In other news, insider Joanne Bal sold 28,246 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 59,371 shares in the company, valued at $2,677,632.10. This represents a 32.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 4,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.39, for a total value of $125,560.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,966,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,690,677.10. This represents a 0.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 145,474 shares of company stock valued at $5,969,700. Insiders own 27.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VITL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, December 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen increased 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.00.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VITL opened at $32.23 on Friday. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.12 and a 12 month high of $48.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.78 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 3.24 and a quick ratio of 2.81.

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