Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Equities research analysts at Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “sector perform” rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Sprout Social from $43.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. KeyCorp cut Sprout Social from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $28.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Sprout Social from $40.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 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. According to MarketBeat, Sprout Social has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.08.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

SPT stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $28.61. 683,724 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 748,774. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.84 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.46. Sprout Social has a 12 month low of $25.05 and a 12 month high of $68.41.

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 the consensus estimate of $102.04 million. On average, analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin sold 1,181 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 42,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,231,226.06. The trade was a 2.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto sold 16,800 shares of Sprout Social stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.25, for a total value of $474,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 170,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,807,443.75. This represents a 8.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 62,882 shares of company stock valued at $1,801,351. 10.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Dorsey Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sprout Social in the second quarter worth approximately $61,583,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Sprout Social by 16.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,762,443 shares of the company’s stock worth $109,374,000 after purchasing an additional 519,406 shares in the last quarter. Jericho Capital Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Sprout Social in the first quarter worth approximately $22,332,000. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Sprout Social in the third quarter worth approximately $10,717,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Sprout Social by 98.7% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 664,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,726,000 after purchasing an additional 330,309 shares in the last quarter.

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.