Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW)

Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 16,563 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $422,000. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.09% of Calavo Growers at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Calavo Growers by 69.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,542 shares of the company's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,039 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers in the 4th quarter worth about $76,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in Calavo Growers in the 3rd quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Calavo Growers in the 4th quarter valued at about $247,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CVGW. Lake Street Capital cut their target price on shares of Calavo Growers from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com downgraded Calavo Growers from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Calavo Growers Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Calavo Growers stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $24.52. 29,813 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 196,550. The stock has a market capitalization of $437.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -409.87 and a beta of 0.41. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a twelve month low of $20.30 and a twelve month high of $30.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.17, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.26.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 14th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $169.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.99 million. Calavo Growers had a positive return on equity of 9.66% and a negative net margin of 0.16%. The firm's revenue was up 19.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.33) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Calavo Growers's dividend payout ratio is currently 148.15%.

Insider Activity at Calavo Growers

In related news, EVP Michael A. Browne purchased 6,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.69 per share, with a total value of $142,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $177,675. This trade represents a 400.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO James E. Snyder purchased 3,213 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.33 per share, for a total transaction of $74,959.29. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 5,157 shares of the company's stock, valued at $120,312.81. This trade represents a 165.28 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 14,213 shares of company stock worth $332,699. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.