Trexquant Investment LP Reduces Holdings in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW)

Trexquant Investment LP reduced its stake in shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) by 27.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,157 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,017 shares during the period. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in Calavo Growers were worth $1,075,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Calavo Growers by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 150,960 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,849,000 after acquiring an additional 77,220 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Calavo Growers during the 4th quarter worth $1,275,000. Nuance Investments LLC grew its holdings in Calavo Growers by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,663,515 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,420,000 after acquiring an additional 26,546 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Calavo Growers during the 4th quarter worth $422,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Calavo Growers by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,148,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,287,000 after acquiring an additional 22,777 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Calavo Growers

In other news, EVP Michael A. Browne bought 6,000 shares of Calavo Growers stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $23.69 per share, with a total value of $142,140.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $177,675. This trade represents a 400.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO James E. Snyder bought 3,213 shares of Calavo Growers stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $23.33 per share, with a total value of $74,959.29. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 5,157 shares in the company, valued at $120,312.81. This trade represents a 165.28 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 14,213 shares of company stock valued at $332,699 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on CVGW shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Calavo Growers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Lake Street Capital decreased their price target on shares of Calavo Growers from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Calavo Growers Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ CVGW opened at $22.74 on Friday. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a one year low of $20.30 and a one year high of $30.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a current ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $405.61 million, a PE ratio of -379.00 and a beta of 0.41.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.25). The business had revenue of $169.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.99 million. Calavo Growers had a negative net margin of 0.16% and a positive return on equity of 9.66%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.33) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Calavo Growers’s payout ratio is 148.15%.

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.