Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

Separately, Lake Street Capital decreased their price objective on 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 Stock Down 2.7 %

CVGW stock opened at $23.51 on Monday. Calavo Growers has a 52 week low of $20.30 and a 52 week high of $30.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $419.35 million, a P/E ratio of -391.83 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Calavo Growers by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter worth about $86,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd raised its stake in Calavo Growers by 42.3% during the third quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd now owns 3,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Calavo Growers

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.