Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 967,100 shares, a decline of 7.9% from the March 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Approximately 5.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 183,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Calavo Growers in a report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Calavo Growers Stock Up 2.1 %

Calavo Growers stock traded up $0.51 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $25.15. The stock had a trading volume of 127,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 176,207. The company has a market cap of $447.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.11 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 1.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.82. Calavo Growers has a 52 week low of $21.42 and a 52 week high of $38.97.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.18). The firm had revenue of $127.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $254.25 million. Calavo Growers had a positive return on equity of 0.49% and a negative net margin of 1.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Calavo Growers will post 1.04 EPS for the current year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Calavo Growers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -60.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Calavo Growers

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Calavo Growers by 102.2% during the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Calavo Growers during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Calavo Growers during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Calavo Growers by 17.0% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

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.