Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

Separately, Lake Street Capital reduced their target price on shares of Calavo Growers from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Calavo Growers Price Performance

Shares of Calavo Growers stock opened at $26.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $466.79 million, a PE ratio of -436.17 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Calavo Growers has a 12 month low of $20.30 and a 12 month high of $30.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $23.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.24.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $169.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.99 million. Calavo Growers had a negative net margin of 0.16% and a positive return on equity of 9.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.33) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Calavo Growers will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Calavo Growers

In other news, CFO James E. Snyder bought 3,213 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.33 per share, with a total value of $74,959.29. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,157 shares in the company, valued at $120,312.81. This represents a 165.28 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lecil E. Cole purchased 21,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.73 per share, with a total value of $499,991.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 536,070 shares in the company, valued at $12,720,941.10. This trade represents a 4.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 73,438 shares of company stock worth $1,771,303. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CVGW. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Calavo Growers by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 445,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,368,000 after buying an additional 94,221 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Calavo Growers by 221.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 123,841 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,533,000 after acquiring an additional 85,272 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Calavo Growers by 104.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 150,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,849,000 after acquiring an additional 77,220 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Calavo Growers by 363.0% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 78,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,003,000 after acquiring an additional 61,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC increased its position in Calavo Growers by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 168,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,293,000 after purchasing an additional 58,995 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Calavo Growers Company Profile

Calavo Growers, Inc markets and distributes avocados, prepared avocados, and other perishable foods to retail grocery and foodservice customers, club stores, mass merchandisers, food distributors, and wholesale customers worldwide. It operates through Grown and Prepared segments. The Grown segment distributes tomatoes and papayas; and procures avocados grown in California, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.