Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL)

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $14.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 39.58% from the company’s previous close.

VITL has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $11.00 target price on Vital Farms in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Vital Farms from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Vital Farms from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their target price on Vital Farms from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Vital Farms currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $17.18.

Vital Farms Trading Up 0.2%

VITL opened at $10.03 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $11.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.23. The firm has a market cap of $430.59 million, a PE ratio of -250.75 and a beta of 1.05. Vital Farms has a twelve month low of $7.95 and a twelve month high of $46.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 1.10.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.47). Vital Farms had a net margin of 0.02% and a return on equity of 3.46%. The company had revenue of $166.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $160.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Vital Farms will post -0.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Vital Farms

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Vital Farms during the 2nd quarter worth about $60,153,000. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vital Farms by 1,998.7% in the 1st quarter. Van Berkom & Associates Inc. now owns 2,261,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,933,000 after acquiring an additional 2,153,775 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Vital Farms in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,975,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,534,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Vital Farms during the second quarter worth about $8,086,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.59% of the company’s stock.

About Vital Farms

Vital Farms, Inc is a food company focused on ethically produced pasture-raised eggs and other products. The company’s offerings include pasture-raised eggs, butter, ghee and hard-boiled eggs, which are sold under the Vital Farms brand through grocery retailers and other distribution channels.

Founded in 2007, Vital Farms works with a network of family farms and emphasizes animal welfare, pasture access and supply-chain transparency. Its products are marketed primarily in the United States and are available through retail and foodservice channels.

The company is headquartered in Austin, Texas.