Russell Investments Group Ltd. Sells 43,224 Shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. $CVGW

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. has reduced its stake in Calavo Growers, Inc. by 12.9% during the first quarter, now holding 292,690 shares valued at approximately $7 million.
• Several institutional investors have also adjusted their positions, with Nuance Investments LLC increasing its stake by 6.4% and Squarepoint Ops LLC boosting its holdings by an impressive 363%.
• Analysts have recently changed their stance on Calavo Growers, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, amid mixed quarterly earnings results.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW - Free Report) by 12.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 292,690 shares of the company's stock after selling 43,224 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 1.64% of Calavo Growers worth $7,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuance Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 1,770,251 shares of the company's stock valued at $42,468,000 after purchasing an additional 106,736 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Calavo Growers in the first quarter valued at about $1,189,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Calavo Growers in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Calavo Growers during the first quarter worth about $297,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. 81.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Calavo Growers Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CVGW traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $27.79. 281,493 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 164,040. The company has a market cap of $495.77 million, a P/E ratio of 47.91 and a beta of 0.42. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $26.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.00. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.46 and a twelve month high of $30.02.

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

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.