Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 44,400 Shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. $CVGW

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. increased its stake in Calavo Growers by 19.9%, acquiring an additional 44,400 shares, bringing its total ownership to 267,700 shares valued at approximately $6.42 million.
• Calavo Growers reported lower than expected earnings, with an EPS of $0.40, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53, and a net margin of 1.50% for the quarter.
• The company's quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share represents an annualized dividend of $0.80 with a yield of 2.9%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 137.93%.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its position in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW - Free Report) by 19.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 267,700 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 44,400 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL owned about 1.50% of Calavo Growers worth $6,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuance Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 6.4% in the first quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,770,251 shares of the company's stock worth $42,468,000 after purchasing an additional 106,736 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,161,996 shares of the company's stock worth $27,876,000 after purchasing an additional 13,491 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 698,701 shares of the company's stock worth $17,817,000 after purchasing an additional 34,263 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 268,228 shares of the company's stock worth $6,840,000 after purchasing an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Calavo Growers by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 206,410 shares of the company's stock worth $4,952,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Calavo Growers Price Performance

Shares of CVGW stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $27.35. The stock had a trading volume of 107,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 165,269. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $26.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.74. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a one year low of $21.46 and a one year high of $30.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.00 and a quick ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $487.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.16 and a beta of 0.42.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, June 9th. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.13). Calavo Growers had a return on equity of 11.79% and a net margin of 1.50%.The business had revenue of $190.55 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $192.75 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Calavo Growers's payout ratio is 137.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut Calavo Growers from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $35.00.

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.