Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.85.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SPT. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price target 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. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price objective on Sprout Social from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sprout Social news, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.67, for a total transaction of $1,266,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,397.12. This represents a 59.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 23,646 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.58, for a total transaction of $581,218.68. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 108,646 shares of company stock valued at $3,302,919 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sprout Social by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,886,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $180,764,000 after purchasing an additional 141,141 shares in the last quarter. Cadian Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 6.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Sprout Social by 16.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,762,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,374,000 after acquiring an additional 519,406 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Sprout Social by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Dorsey Asset Management LLC now owns 2,306,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,822,000 after acquiring an additional 330,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Sprout Social by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,171,567 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,689,000 after acquiring an additional 7,311 shares during the last quarter.

Sprout Social Price Performance

SPT stock opened at $21.99 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.59. Sprout Social has a 52 week low of $21.51 and a 52 week high of $59.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.32 and a beta of 1.11.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.35). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 40.94% and a negative net margin of 17.24%. The company had revenue of $107.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.74 million. Analysts anticipate that Sprout Social will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.