Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Shares Down 3.2% – Here’s Why

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT)’s share price fell 3.2% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $22.39 and last traded at $22.40. 247,162 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 688,972 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.14.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SPT. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $45.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Sprout Social from $30.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Sprout Social from $38.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Sprout Social from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.69.

Sprout Social Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of -18.78 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.74.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $109.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $107.63 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 17.24% and a negative return on equity of 40.94%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sprout Social, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 23,646 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.58, for a total transaction of $581,218.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,122 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,358.76. This represents a 35.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.81, for a total value of $832,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,347.77. The trade was a 84.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 125,446 shares of company stock worth $2,644,639. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SPT. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its position in Sprout Social by 380.7% in the 4th quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 1,772,219 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,425,000 after buying an additional 1,403,549 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Sprout Social during the 1st quarter valued at $13,131,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Sprout Social in the fourth quarter worth about $13,422,000. Dorsey Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Sprout Social by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 2,306,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,822,000 after purchasing an additional 330,155 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cadian Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Sprout Social by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP now owns 4,548,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,679,000 after buying an additional 263,267 shares during the last quarter.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social, Inc designs, develops, and operates a web-based social media management platform in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company provides cloud software for social messaging, data and workflows in a unified system of record, intelligence, and action.