FORA Capital LLC Takes Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 34,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,221,000. FORA Capital LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Vital Farms as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Freedom Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $631,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 635.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 55,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after purchasing an additional 47,623 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $302,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 39,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the 3rd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 44,653 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $1,789,245.71. Following 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 7.67 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.09, for a total transaction of $938,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,194,777 shares in the company, valued at $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. 27.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Vital Farms stock opened at $32.34 on Thursday. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $12.44 and a 12-month high of $48.41. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.88 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.76. 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 (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $145.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $145.27 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 8.68% and a return on equity of 22.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.10 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VITL shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $42.00 to $34.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.20.

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.