Roth Capital Reiterates Buy Rating for Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO)

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Roth Capital in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Roth Capital’s price target indicates a potential upside of 30.07% from the stock’s current price.

AVO has been the topic of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Mission Produce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. UBS Group set a $16.00 price target on Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Friday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Mission Produce Stock Down 2.6%

Mission Produce stock traded down $0.35 on Thursday, hitting $13.07. 309,954 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,026,609. The company has a current ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 435.31 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.89. Mission Produce has a 1 year low of $10.07 and a 1 year high of $15.53.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 6.35%. The company had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Mission Produce’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mission Produce will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Mission Produce declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, June 8th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 13.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Mission Produce news, Director Jay Pack acquired 40,000 shares of Mission Produce stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.10 per share, for a total transaction of $484,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 579,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,017,576.50. This represents a 7.41% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce Taylor bought 70,283 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.25 per share, for a total transaction of $790,683.75. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 855,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,628,222.50. This trade represents a 8.95% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 3,314,711 shares of company stock valued at $42,045,468. 30.85% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AVO. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Mission Produce by 251.8% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 269,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,175,000 after buying an additional 192,741 shares in the last quarter. Dean Capital Management purchased a new position in Mission Produce during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,058,000. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the first quarter worth approximately $23,756,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mission Produce in the second quarter worth $3,882,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Mission Produce by 312.3% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 167,220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after purchasing an additional 126,658 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc is a leading global supplier, packer and distributor of fresh avocados, serving retail, foodservice and industrial customers. The company manages a vertically integrated supply chain that spans sourcing, post-harvest handling, packing and ripening. Through proprietary ripening technologies and cold-chain logistics, Mission Produce delivers consistent quality and extended shelf life for its avocado offerings.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Oxnard, California, Mission Produce grew from a regional packing operation into a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker AVO.