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

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

Calavo Growers Trading Up 2.1 %

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

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.18). The business 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 firm’s revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Calavo Growers will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Investors of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is -60.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CVGW. FMR LLC grew its position in Calavo Growers by 102.2% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Calavo Growers by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. 81.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.