Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

CVGW has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Calavo Growers in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Lake Street Capital upped their price target on shares of Calavo Growers from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Calavo Growers to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.00.

Calavo Growers Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:CVGW opened at $24.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $441.79 million, a PE ratio of 28.13 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.30, a quick ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Calavo Growers has a twelve month low of $21.46 and a twelve month high of $30.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.43.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 9th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.03. Calavo Growers had a net margin of 2.28% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $178.82 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $195.20 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Calavo Growers’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Calavo Growers will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is currently 90.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Calavo Growers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 85.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 11,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 390.5% during the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 60,533 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,452,000 after purchasing an additional 48,193 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Calavo Growers during the 1st quarter worth $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 1,994.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,171 shares of the company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 12,542 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,161,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,876,000 after purchasing an additional 13,491 shares during the period. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.