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

Shares of Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.31.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPT. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Sprout Social from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Sprout Social from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.13, for a total transaction of $722,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 398,229 shares in the company, valued at $14,388,013.77. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 1,181 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.23, for a total value of $34,520.63. Following the transaction, the director now owns 42,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,231,226.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Justyn Russell Howard sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.13, for a total value of $722,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 398,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,388,013.77. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 82,282 shares of company stock worth $2,670,776. 10.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprout Social

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sprout Social during the second quarter worth approximately $4,345,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its position in Sprout Social by 2,935.8% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 208,164 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,790,000 after purchasing an additional 201,307 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Sprout Social by 77.5% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 95,789 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,885,000 after purchasing an additional 41,834 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its stake in Sprout Social by 642.5% in the first quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 21,830 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after purchasing an additional 18,890 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 17.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,137,422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,625,000 after buying an additional 311,146 shares during the last quarter.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

Sprout Social stock opened at $28.67 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.94 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.89. Sprout Social has a 1-year low of $25.05 and a 1-year high of $68.41.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.01. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 44.38% and a negative net margin of 19.60%. The company had revenue of $99.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Sprout Social will post -0.9 EPS for the current 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.