Freedom Investment Management Inc. Acquires 2,688 Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM

Key Points

• Freedom Investment Management Inc. has increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 90.7%, owning a total of 5,653 shares valued at approximately $514,000.
• Cal-Maine Foods reported strong earnings results with an EPS of $7.04, surpassing the consensus estimate of $5.29, and a revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter.
• Multiple analysts have recently updated their price targets for Cal-Maine Foods, with an average target price set at $110.00 following evaluations from firms like BMO Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs.

Freedom Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM - Free Report) by 90.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,653 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,688 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Cal-Maine Foods were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,945,681 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $449,562,000 after buying an additional 40,075 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 13.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,436,943 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $130,618,000 after buying an additional 170,322 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 23.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 833,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $75,725,000 after buying an additional 158,719 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 3.1% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 664,304 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $60,385,000 after buying an additional 20,174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 258.7% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 582,711 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $59,973,000 after buying an additional 420,247 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.67% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CALM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a report on Thursday, August 14th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Cal-Maine Foods from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 23rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price target on shares of Cal-Maine Foods from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $110.00.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Up 0.2%

CALM stock traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $115.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 544,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 719,576. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $68.22 and a 52 week high of $126.40. The stock has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.27. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $106.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.96.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $7.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $5.29 by $1.75. Cal-Maine Foods had a net margin of 28.63% and a return on equity of 54.81%. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $877.03 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.32 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 72.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cal-Maine Foods Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $3.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $13.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.0%. This is a boost from Cal-Maine Foods's previous quarterly dividend of $1.49. Cal-Maine Foods's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.76%.

Cal-Maine Foods Profile

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names.