Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT)

Sprout Social, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPT) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 13,805 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 2,305% compared to the average daily volume of 574 put options.

Sprout Social Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:SPT traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $5.82. The company had a trading volume of 331,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,642,141. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20. Sprout Social has a 1 year low of $5.70 and a 1 year high of $25.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $344.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.16 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $120.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.68 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 16.10% and a negative net margin of 9.47%.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. Equities analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Sprout Social from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $9.00 price target (down from $16.00) on shares of Sprout Social in a research report on Friday, February 27th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Sprout Social from $9.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sprout Social from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Sprout Social from $13.00 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sprout Social has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Justyn Russell Howard sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.96, for a total transaction of $238,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 7,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,205.32. This represents a 84.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto bought 93,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $10.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,809.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 875,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,338,981.52. The trade was a 12.03% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 103,855 shares of company stock valued at $827,660 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sprout Social

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPT. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,822,928 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,894,000 after purchasing an additional 274,527 shares during the period. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 9.8% during the third quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 4,723,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,033,000 after acquiring an additional 421,189 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Sprout Social by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,546,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,425,000 after acquiring an additional 117,757 shares during the last quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sprout Social during the third quarter worth about $17,555,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sprout Social by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,254,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,141,000 after acquiring an additional 123,983 shares in the last quarter.

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.