Russell Diez-Canseco Sells 30,000 Shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) Stock

Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) CEO Russell Diez-Canseco sold 30,000 shares of Vital Farms stock in a transaction on Friday, April 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.03, for a total value of $750,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 313,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,838,845.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Russell Diez-Canseco also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, April 12th, Russell Diez-Canseco sold 36,948 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.07, for a total value of $926,286.36.
• On Tuesday, March 12th, Russell Diez-Canseco sold 31,643 shares of Vital Farms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.94, for a total value of $662,604.42.
• On Monday, February 12th, Russell Diez-Canseco sold 27,528 shares of Vital Farms stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total value of $426,408.72.
• On Tuesday, January 16th, Russell Diez-Canseco sold 1,464 shares of Vital Farms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.13, for a total transaction of $22,150.32.
• On Friday, January 12th, Russell Diez-Canseco sold 26,096 shares of Vital Farms stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.23, for a total transaction of $397,442.08.

Vital Farms Stock Up 1.4 %

NASDAQ VITL traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $26.62. 496,581 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 405,164. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.00 and a 52-week high of $27.37. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 46.55 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 3.00 and a quick ratio of 2.49.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $135.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $131.10 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 5.42% and a return on equity of 14.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VITL. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 25.1% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,062,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,884,000 after acquiring an additional 413,475 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 79.3% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 524,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,075,000 after purchasing an additional 231,985 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 725.5% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 250,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,906,000 after purchasing an additional 220,552 shares during the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in Vital Farms during the 4th quarter worth about $3,016,000. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 82.1% in the 1st quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 373,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,681,000 after buying an additional 168,296 shares in the last quarter. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VITL. TheStreet raised shares of Vital Farms from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. William Blair started coverage on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Vital Farms from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Lake Street Capital boosted their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.20.

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.