Compass Group LLC recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Vitru Limited (NASDAQ:VTRU). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Consumer Defensive company by 10.42% to 4.53 million shares with purchase of 0.43 million shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 15.67% valued currently at $101.92 million. In addition, Navi Capital Adm e Gestora de Rec raised its holdings by 11057.0 to 1.46 million shares. And Investis Asset Management SA SGFC has lifted its position by 15.25% or 34832.0 shares – to 0.26 million shares.
With over 0.11 million Vitru Limited (VTRU) shares trading Monday and a closing price of $20.40 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $2.27 million. The shares have shown a positive half year performance of 22.60% and its price on 01/23/23 lost nearly -12.07%. Currently, there are 28.91M common shares owned by the public and among those 26.83M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 7 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for VTRU have a consensus price objective of $129.66. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $151.31 and a low of $114.79. The average price target is 19.69% above its recent price level and an upside to the estimated low will see the stock gain 82.23% over that period. But an upside of 86.52% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $129.41.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Vitru Limited are NInety One Glb. Strat. Fd. – Lati, Government Pension Fund – Global, and NInety One Glb. Strat. Fd. – Lati. NInety One Glb. Strat. Fd. – Lati owns 1.85 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $41.53 million. The company sold 61510.0 shares recently to bring their total holdings to about 6.39% of the shares outstanding. Government Pension Fund – Global sold 90413.0 shares to see its total holdings shrink to 0.48 million shares valued at over $10.84 million and representing 1.67% of the shares outstanding. NInety One Glb. Strat. Fd. – Lati bought 34832.0 shares to bring its total holdings to over 0.26 million shares at a value of $5.92 million. NInety One Glb. Strat. Fd. – Lati now owns shares totaling to 0.91% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Vitru Limited (NASDAQ: VTRU) opened at $23.17, down -$0.03 from a prior closing price of $23.20. However, the script later moved the day high at 23.20, down -12.07%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -10.60% and 2.00% over the past three months. VTRU shares are trading -9.33% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance up to 47.83% higher. It has a 12-month low price of $12.28 and touched a high of $23.83 over the same period. VTRU has an average intraday trading volume of 52.58K shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by -9.01%, -7.75%, and 9.08% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Vitru Limited (NASDAQ: VTRU) shares accounts for 80.20% of the company’s 28.91M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 28.23%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 9.11% and — respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $598.54M. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 32.85, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $0.62. The company has a PEG of 2.35 and a Quick Ratio of 1.10 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.00. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 5.50% over the week and 6.41% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Vitru Limited (VTRU) will achieve an EPS of -$0.04 for the current quarter, $0.01 for the next quarter and $1.28 for 2023. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is -$0.04 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of -$0.04. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $0.12 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 36.40%, and 68.40% over the next financial year.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 7 brokerage firm advisors rate Vitru Limited (VTRU) as a “Moderate Buy” at a consensus score of 2.30. Specifically, 4 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 3 of the 7 advise that investors “hold,” and 0 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the VTRU, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. Morgan Stanley stated their Equal-Weight rating for the stock in a research note on October 31, 2022, with the firm’s price target at $23.50. Goldman coverage for the Vitru Limited (VTRU) stock in a research note released on October 11, 2022 offered a Neutral rating with a price target of $22. BofA Securities on their part issued Buy rating on October 13, 2020.
