Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) Major Shareholder Sells $222,270.00 in Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) major shareholder Matthew O’Hayer sold 23,250 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.56, for a total transaction of $222,270.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 6,238,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,642,163.20. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Large shareholders that own at least 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their sales and purchases with the SEC.

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

• On Monday, November 9th, Matthew O’Hayer sold 66,200 shares of Vital Farms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.68, for a total transaction of $640,816.00.
• On Friday, November 6th, Matthew O’Hayer sold 3,550 shares of Vital Farms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.53, for a total transaction of $33,831.50.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of VITL traded up $0.10 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.07. 1,243,948 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,267,079. The company has a market cap of $389.47 million, a P/E ratio of -16.49 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. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.30. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.95 and a 52-week high of $36.10.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vital Farms

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $60,153,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 1,998.7% in the 1st 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 during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 41.6% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,153,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,400,000 after purchasing an additional 632,537 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Vital Farms by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,405,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,836,000 after purchasing an additional 447,728 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,975,000. 98.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VITL shares. Zacks Research upgraded Vital Farms from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Benchmark upgraded Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. DA Davidson set a $10.00 price objective on Vital Farms in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.64.

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.