Insider Selling: Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Sells 15,000 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Mission Produce Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 15,000 shares at an average price of $13.10, generating $196,500 and reducing his direct stake by nearly 30% to 35,062 shares.
• Shares recently traded at $12.39, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $0.18 and revenue of $450 million, beating analyst estimates and marking 25.8% year-over-year revenue growth.
• Mission Produce authorized a $100 million share-repurchase program, and analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with a $16.50 target price versus the reported trading price.

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.10, for a total value of $196,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 35,062 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $459,312.20. The trade was a 29.96% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Mission Produce Price Performance

Mission Produce stock traded down $0.42 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $12.39. 937,974 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,026,295. The firm has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 413.14 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $12.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.86. Mission Produce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.07 and a 1-year high of $15.53.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.57 million. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 5.91%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mission Produce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Monday, June 8th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Thursday, September 10th. UBS Group set a $16.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mission Produce from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Mission Produce has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Mission Produce by 31.2% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,671 shares of the company's stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 3,961 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. purchased a new position in Mission Produce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $311,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,836,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,236 shares of the company's stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its position in shares of Mission Produce by 660.8% in the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 213,417 shares of the company's stock worth $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 185,366 shares in the last quarter. 63.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mission Produce Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.