Insider Selling: Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Major Shareholder Sells $640,816.00 in Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) major shareholder Matthew O’Hayer sold 66,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total transaction of $640,816.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 6,261,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $60,615,869.60. This represents a 1.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Major shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s stock are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Matthew Ohayer also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, November 6th, Matthew O’Hayer sold 3,550 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $33,831.50.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VITL opened at $8.97 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.30. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.95 and a 52 week high of $36.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $385.17 million, a P/E ratio of -16.31 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $182.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.78 million. Vital Farms had a negative net margin of 3.03% and a negative return on equity of 3.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on VITL shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings lowered Vital Farms from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Benchmark raised Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Craig Hallum raised Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Vital Farms from $14.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.64.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the second quarter valued at approximately $60,153,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 1,998.7% during the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,933,000 after purchasing an additional 2,153,775 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 41.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,153,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,400,000 after purchasing an additional 632,537 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Vital Farms by 46.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,836,000 after purchasing an additional 447,728 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Vital Farms in the second quarter worth approximately $12,975,000. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc. is a food company that produces and markets pasture-raised eggs and butter. Its products are sold under the Vital Farms brand and include shell eggs, hard-boiled eggs and butter. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company works with a network of family farms that raise hens on pasture. Vital Farms sources its products from farms primarily across the United States. The company distributes its products through grocery retailers and other food channels, including foodservice.