Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Stock

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) had its price objective upped by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.23% from the company’s previous close.

SPT has been the topic of several other reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 11th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Monday, November 18th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $28.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective 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 objective on shares of Sprout Social from $48.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.54.

Sprout Social Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ SPT traded up $0.02 on Monday, hitting $30.52. 160,091 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 416,021. Sprout Social has a 52-week low of $25.05 and a 52-week high of $68.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.43 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $31.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.41.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.28) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.06). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 40.94% and a negative net margin of 17.24%. The firm had revenue of $102.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.04 million. Research analysts predict that Sprout Social will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sprout Social

In other Sprout Social news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto sold 16,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.99, for a total transaction of $520,632.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 153,375 shares in the company, valued at $4,753,091.25. This trade represents a 9.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Karen Walker sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.24, for a total transaction of $171,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,221,169.60. This represents a 12.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,265 shares of company stock worth $1,115,306. Company insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPT. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 2,346.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 783 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,717 shares of the company’s stock worth $108,000 after buying an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the second quarter worth approximately $218,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the third quarter worth approximately $265,000. Finally, Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the second quarter worth approximately $368,000.

Sprout Social Company Profile

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.