Green Alpha Advisors LLC Takes $559,000 Position in Vital Farms, Inc. $VITL

Green Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 48,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $559,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Vital Farms in the second quarter worth approximately $60,153,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Vital Farms by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,845,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,892,000 after acquiring an additional 530,008 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Vital Farms by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,687,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,831,000 after acquiring an additional 324,725 shares in the last quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its position in Vital Farms by 1,998.7% in the first quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,933,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $30,400,000 after purchasing an additional 632,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VITL. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Vital Farms from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Craig Hallum lowered Vital Farms from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $10.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Vital Farms from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.18.

Vital Farms Price Performance

Shares of Vital Farms stock opened at $10.57 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.95 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $453.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -264.25 and a beta of 1.07.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.47). The business had revenue of $166.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. Vital Farms had a net margin of 0.02% and a return on equity of 3.46%. Vital Farms’s revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Vital Farms, Inc. will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol VITL, is a U.S.-based food company specializing in pasture-raised egg and dairy products. The company partners with a network of family farms across the United States to produce eggs, butter and related items under a certified humane, pasture-centric farming model. Vital Farms’ supply chain emphasizes animal welfare, environmental stewardship and transparent sourcing, appealing to consumers seeking ethically produced, high-quality ingredients.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Vital Farms began by marketing pasture-raised eggs to health- and ethically minded shoppers.