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

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Sprout Social from $15.00 to $12.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $9.00 target price (down from $16.00) on shares of Sprout Social in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Sprout Social in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Sprout Social from $9.00 to $6.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on Sprout Social from $32.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sprout Social currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.11.

Sprout Social Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SPT opened at $6.45 on Friday. Sprout Social has a twelve month low of $6.03 and a twelve month high of $27.81. 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 company has a market cap of $381.78 million, a PE ratio of -8.72 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $9.12 and its 200 day moving average is $11.09.

Sprout Social (NASDAQ:SPT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.16 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $120.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.68 million. Sprout Social had a negative return on equity of 16.51% 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. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sprout Social will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Paul Barretto bought 93,984 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $10.67 per share, for a total transaction of $1,002,809.28. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 875,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,338,981.52. This trade represents a 12.03% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aaron Edward Frederick Rankin bought 90,661 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.14 per share, for a total transaction of $1,009,963.54. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 114,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,280,754.66. The trade was a 372.97% 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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sprout Social by 391.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 35,985 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 28,667 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Sprout Social in the first quarter valued at approximately $365,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Sprout Social by 2.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 53,127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 1,265 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Sprout Social by 23.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 325,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,163,000 after purchasing an additional 60,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Sprout Social during the first quarter worth approximately $325,000.

Key Headlines 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

Sprout Social Company Profile

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.