Jefferies Financial Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Stock Price

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) had its price target decreased by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $15.00 to $12.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 49.07% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SPT. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $26.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $25.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.91.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

SPT opened at $8.05 on Tuesday. Sprout Social has a twelve month low of $7.79 and a twelve month high of $33.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $476.48 million, a PE ratio of -9.94 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.29.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $115.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $114.86 million. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 10.59% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.13 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sprout Social will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Sprout Social

In other Sprout Social news, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.70, for a total value of $428,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,361.90. This represents a 84.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin bought 90,661 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.14 per share, with a total value of $1,009,963.54. Following the purchase, the director owned 114,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,280,754.66. This trade represents a 372.97% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 10.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprout Social by 391.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 35,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,105,000 after buying an additional 28,667 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Sprout Social during the 1st quarter valued at about $365,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sprout Social by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 53,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,265 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Sprout Social by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 325,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,163,000 after acquiring an additional 60,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Sprout Social during the first quarter worth about $325,000.

About Sprout Social

Sprout Social (NASDAQ: SPT) is a Chicago-based software company specializing in social media management solutions for businesses of all sizes. The company provides a cloud-based platform designed to help organizations improve their social media presence through a suite of tools for content scheduling, community engagement, social listening and analytics. Sprout Social’s platform is built to streamline the workflows of marketing, customer care and public relations teams by providing a centralized hub for managing multiple social channels.

The company’s product offerings include publishing and scheduling capabilities that allow users to plan and automate social content across networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.