Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) Downgraded by The Goldman Sachs Group to “Neutral”

The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has $44.00 price target on the stock, down from their prior price target of $80.00.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sprout Social from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Piper Sandler cut Sprout Social from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a buy rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Sprout Social from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $57.07.

Sprout Social Stock Down 40.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SPT traded down $19.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.82. 13,470,229 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 679,800. The stock has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.06 and a beta of 1.09. Sprout Social has a fifty-two week low of $27.85 and a fifty-two week high of $68.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.30) by ($0.02). Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 42.60% and a negative net margin of 19.64%. The business had revenue of $93.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $90.76 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sprout Social will post -1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Preto Joseph Del sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.71, for a total transaction of $89,565.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,322 shares in the company, valued at $7,602,396.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Sprout Social news, CFO Preto Joseph Del sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.71, for a total transaction of $89,565.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 127,322 shares in the company, valued at $7,602,396.62. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Ryan Paul Barretto sold 5,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.63, for a total transaction of $333,928.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 209,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,485,031.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,200 shares of company stock worth $8,171,958 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sprout Social

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SPT. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sprout Social by 3.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,084,389 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,609,000 after purchasing an additional 191,471 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 244.1% during the third quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 4,404,402 shares of the company’s stock worth $219,692,000 after acquiring an additional 3,124,376 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 27.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,953,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,183,000 after acquiring an additional 853,127 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,532,339 shares of the company’s stock worth $155,587,000 after acquiring an additional 153,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 17.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,137,422 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,625,000 after acquiring an additional 311,146 shares in the last quarter.

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.