Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 47.12% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on SPT. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $73.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday, March 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $83.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.57.

Sprout Social Price Performance

NASDAQ SPT opened at $50.98 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $56.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. Sprout Social has a 12-month low of $37.00 and a 12-month high of $68.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.48 and a beta of 1.05.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by ($0.02). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 41.25% and a negative net margin of 19.91%. The firm had revenue of $93.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.76 million. Analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sprout Social

In related news, CFO Preto Joseph Del sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.71, for a total transaction of $89,565.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 127,322 shares in the company, valued at $7,602,396.62. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Sprout Social news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.52, for a total value of $1,130,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 406,636 shares in the company, valued at $22,983,066.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Preto Joseph Del sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.71, for a total transaction of $89,565.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,322 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,602,396.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,200 shares of company stock worth $8,171,958 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Sprout Social by 244.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,124,376 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,953,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $197,183,000 after buying an additional 853,127 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 334.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 667,462 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,293,000 after buying an additional 513,687 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 15.0% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 2,779,197 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,388,000 after buying an additional 363,381 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 78.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 684,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,622,000 after buying an additional 299,727 shares during the period.

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.