Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Sprout Social from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $16.00) on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Friday. Barclays reduced their price target on Sprout Social from $26.00 to $13.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 12th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Sprout Social from $32.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprout Social has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.11.

Sprout Social Stock Performance

Shares of Sprout Social stock opened at $6.45 on Friday. Sprout Social has a 12 month low of $6.03 and a 12 month high of $27.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $381.77 million, a P/E ratio of -8.72 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.13.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. Sprout Social had a negative net margin of 9.47% and a negative return on equity of 16.51%. The company had revenue of $120.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.68 million. Sprout Social has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.880-0.970 EPS and its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.150-0.160 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sprout Social news, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.70, for a total transaction of $428,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 7,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $79,361.90. The trade was a 84.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto purchased 93,984 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,809.28. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 875,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,338,981.52. This trade represents a 12.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 10.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Sprout Social by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 76,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 21,399 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 228.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 38,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 26,474 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sprout Social in the 4th quarter worth $114,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Sprout Social by 225.9% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 126,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 87,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Sprout Social in the fourth quarter worth about $440,000.

Key Stories Impacting Sprout Social

Here are the key news stories impacting Sprout Social this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat estimates and management raised guidance — Sprout reported $0.20 non‑GAAP EPS and $120.9M revenue (both above consensus) and issued Q1 and FY‑2026 non‑GAAP EPS and revenue guidance well above prior expectations; this supports the company’s claim of improving profitability and cash generation. SPT Beats Q4 Sales Expectations (Yahoo)
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic catalysts: management set a new target (30% Rule of 40 on a non‑GAAP basis by Q4 2027), highlighted growth in $30K+ customers (22% subscription revenue growth contribution) and promoted AI product Trellis — these initiatives aim to lift enterprise ARPU and margins over time. Quiver: Targets 30% Rule of 40
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and disclosures provide detail but mixed signals — transcripts and slide deck show recurring GAAP losses alongside improving non‑GAAP profitability and higher deferred revenue/RPO, giving investors both runway and execution risk to weigh. Seeking Alpha: Earnings Call Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts pared targets and some issued downgrades after the print — KeyCorp cut its target to $6 and moved to underweight, Canaccord trimmed its target to $9 (hold), and Needham sharply reduced a prior $32 target to $14 (still buy); the headline KeyCorp move and mixed analyst views are likely driving near‑term selling pressure. These Analysts Cut Their Forecasts On Sprout Social After Q4 Earnings (Benzinga)
• Negative Sentiment: Underlying fundamentals still show GAAP losses and retention headwinds — Sprout reported a GAAP net loss, negative net margin and dollar‑based net retention of 100% (down from 104%), which keeps execution risk and future growth sustainability on investors’ radar. Quiver: Financial & Customer Metrics
• Negative Sentiment: Insider and institutional flows look unfavorable in recent filings — Quiver/other summaries show multiple insider sales and notable institutional reductions by some large holders, which can amplify downside momentum even when results beat. Quiver: Insider & Institutional Activity

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.