Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Cut to “Sector Weight” at KeyCorp

KeyCorp downgraded shares of Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird lowered Sprout Social from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Sprout Social from $65.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sprout Social from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprout Social currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $57.07.

Sprout Social Price Performance

Sprout Social stock opened at $28.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of -23.06 and a beta of 1.09. Sprout Social has a one year low of $27.85 and a one year high of $68.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.80.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.30) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $93.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $90.76 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 42.60% and a negative net margin of 19.64%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sprout Social

In other Sprout Social news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total value of $2,334,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 287,912 shares in the company, valued at $16,802,544.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total transaction of $2,334,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 287,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,802,544.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.95, for a total transaction of $1,252,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 44,487 shares in the company, valued at $2,533,534.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 89,100 shares of company stock worth $5,126,065 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 162.5% in the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 74,357 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,568,000 after purchasing an additional 46,033 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 43.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 61,300 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 18,644 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 244.1% in the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $219,692,000 after purchasing an additional 3,124,376 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 16.6% in the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,084,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,609,000 after purchasing an additional 191,471 shares in 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.