Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 13,805 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 2,305% compared to the average daily volume of 574 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sprout Social news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto bought 93,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $10.67 per share, with a total value of $1,002,809.28. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 875,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,338,981.52. This trade represents a 12.03% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total value of $238,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,205.32. This trade represents a 84.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 103,855 shares of company stock worth $827,660 in the last three months. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Diversified Trust Co increased its position in Sprout Social by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 17,982 shares of the company’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,040 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Sprout Social by 1.6% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 78,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Sprout Social by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 53,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Sprout Social by 39.1% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,752 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Sprout Social by 55.5% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 1,962 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SPT. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $32.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on Sprout Social from $26.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $9.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $9.00 target price (down from $16.00) on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.67.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

SPT traded down $0.04 during trading on Monday, reaching $5.82. 331,474 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,642,141. Sprout Social has a 52 week low of $5.70 and a 52 week high of $25.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $8.16 and a 200 day moving average of $10.50. The stock has a market cap of $344.25 million, a P/E ratio of -7.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $120.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.68 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 9.47% and a negative return on equity of 16.10%. Sprout Social has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.970 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.150-0.160 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sprout Social Company Profile

Sprout Social (NASDAQ: SPT) is a Chicago-based software company specializing in social media management solutions for businesses of all sizes. The company provides a cloud-based platform designed to help organizations improve their social media presence through a suite of tools for content scheduling, community engagement, social listening and analytics. Sprout Social’s platform is built to streamline the workflows of marketing, customer care and public relations teams by providing a centralized hub for managing multiple social channels.

The company’s product offerings include publishing and scheduling capabilities that allow users to plan and automate social content across networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.