William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases 89,772 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 955,895 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,772 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 2.18% of Vital Farms worth $36,028,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 872 shares during the period. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 191.2% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the period. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Vital Farms Trading Up 2.1 %

VITL stock opened at $31.59 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21 and a beta of 0.95. Vital Farms, Inc. has a one year low of $21.30 and a one year high of $48.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a current ratio of 3.24.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Kathryn Mckeon sold 12,300 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.08, for a total value of $517,584.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 46,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,944,222.24. The trade was a 21.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 24,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.19, for a total transaction of $916,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,038,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,815,209.10. The trade was a 0.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 145,474 shares of company stock valued at $6,171,500 over the last three months. 27.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on VITL. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, December 20th. They set a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $43.71.

Vital Farms Company 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.