12,144 Shares in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) Bought by Magnetar Financial LLC

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Calavo Growers by 1.6% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 267,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,625,000 after buying an additional 4,307 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in Calavo Growers by 215.5% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 262,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,493,000 after buying an additional 179,395 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Calavo Growers by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 152,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,880,000 after buying an additional 31,743 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 85,272 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter valued at $1,371,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Calavo Growers Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CVGW opened at $24.06 on Friday. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.30 and a 1-year high of $30.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.75. The company has a market capitalization of $429.16 million, a PE ratio of -401.00 and a beta of 0.57.

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

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is presently 148.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CVGW. Lake Street Capital lowered their price objective on Calavo Growers from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com lowered Calavo Growers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday.

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.