Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Takes Position in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management acquired a new stake in Vital Farms, Inc. (NASDAQ:VITL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vital Farms in the fourth quarter valued at $699,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Vital Farms by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,236,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,307,000 after acquiring an additional 87,980 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Vital Farms by 25.2% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 84,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 17,017 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Vital Farms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $298,000. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new stake in Vital Farms in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,114,000. 98.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Vital Farms from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Vital Farms in a research report on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets raised Vital Farms to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Vital Farms from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Vital Farms in a report on Monday, May 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Vital Farms has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Thilo Wrede sold 1,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.93, for a total value of $38,316.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 57,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,823,745.81. This represents a 2.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Matthew Ohayer sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.46, for a total value of $589,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 6,970,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,362,419.40. This represents a 0.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 94,324 shares of company stock valued at $3,057,624. Company insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Vital Farms Price Performance

VITL stock opened at $32.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.17. Vital Farms, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.91 and a 12-month high of $48.41. The company has a current ratio of 3.24, a quick ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 28.76 and a beta of 0.89.

Vital Farms (NASDAQ:VITL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.11. Vital Farms had a return on equity of 22.29% and a net margin of 8.68%. The firm had revenue of $162.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $164.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Vital Farms, Inc. will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

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.