Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) Trading 5% Higher

Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) shares shot up 5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $28.14 and last traded at $28.11. 126,233 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 29% from the average session volume of 177,038 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.78.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Calavo Growers in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Calavo Growers Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $505.70 million, a P/E ratio of -43.05 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $27.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.84.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.18). Calavo Growers had a negative net margin of 1.32% and a positive return on equity of 0.49%. The firm had revenue of $127.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $254.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Calavo Growers's dividend payout ratio is -60.61%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Calavo Growers

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CVGW. SG Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers in the fourth quarter worth $7,851,000. Kent Lake Capital LLC boosted its stake in Calavo Growers by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. Kent Lake Capital LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company's stock worth $8,823,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter worth $5,537,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Calavo Growers by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 280,584 shares of the company's stock worth $8,252,000 after buying an additional 161,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Calavo Growers by 12.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,445,222 shares of the company's stock worth $52,678,000 after buying an additional 160,709 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company's stock.

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.