Insider Selling: Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Sells $1,448,767.58 in Stock

Key Points

• Mission Produce Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 111,358 shares for approximately $1.45 million at an average price of $13.01, reducing his position by 6.16% to 1.70 million shares.
• Mission Produce reported quarterly EPS of $0.18, beating estimates by $0.06, while revenue rose 25.8% year over year to $450 million. The company also authorized a $100 million stock repurchase plan.
• Analyst sentiment remains moderately positive, with an average price target of $16.50 versus the stock’s recent price of $12.70, although ratings range from Strong Buy to Sell.

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 111,358 shares of Mission Produce stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total value of $1,448,767.58. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 1,695,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,054,356.85. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Mission Produce Stock Performance

Shares of AVO traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $12.70. The company had a trading volume of 635,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,024,980. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 423.47 and a beta of 0.48. Mission Produce, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.07 and a 52-week high of $15.53. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 0.12%.The company had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Mission Produce's revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Mission Produce declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, June 8th that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Mission Produce by 251.8% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 269,286 shares of the company's stock worth $3,175,000 after acquiring an additional 192,741 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the 1st quarter worth about $23,756,000. Dean Capital Management purchased a new position in Mission Produce in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,058,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Mission Produce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,882,000. Finally, Nuance Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Mission Produce by 66.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nuance Investments LLC now owns 501,087 shares of the company's stock worth $5,908,000 after buying an additional 199,511 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.57% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on AVO. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mission Produce from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. UBS Group set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Mission Produce from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $16.50.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc NASDAQ: AVO is an avocado sourcing, production, distribution and marketing company headquartered in Oxnard, California. The company supplies fresh Hass avocados and other avocado varieties to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers, managing activities across the supply chain from growing and procurement to ripening, packing and delivery.

Mission Produce works with avocado growers and operates or manages production and distribution activities in several major growing regions, including Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and the United States.

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