Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) Upgraded by Freedom Capital to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on ALCO. Weiss Ratings raised Alico from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alico from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alico currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Alico Stock Performance

Shares of ALCO opened at $41.58 on Tuesday. Alico has a 12 month low of $31.32 and a 12 month high of $45.01. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.76. The company has a current ratio of 9.63, a quick ratio of 9.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $308.36 million, a PE ratio of 189.01 and a beta of 0.91.

Alico (NASDAQ:ALCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.74) by $1.03. Alico had a negative return on equity of 20.68% and a net margin of 8.98%.The firm had revenue of $9.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.75 million. Equities research analysts predict that Alico will post -3.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alico Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Alico’s payout ratio is 90.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alico

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alico during the second quarter worth about $18,428,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alico in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,300,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Alico in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,268,000. Gate City Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alico by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Gate City Capital Management LLC now owns 1,297,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,210,000 after buying an additional 39,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in Alico during the 4th quarter worth approximately $796,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.28% of the company’s stock.

About Alico

Alico, Inc is an agribusiness and land management company headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida. The company owns and manages over 110,000 acres of land in southwestern Florida, with operations focused on citrus groves, sugarcane production, forestry and other row crops. Alico leverages its extensive land holdings to support integrated agricultural and environmental stewardship practices.

In its citrus division, Alico cultivates and markets fresh oranges for both the retail and processing markets, while its sugarcane segment supplies raw cane to domestic sugar mills.