Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Sells $446,303.10 in Stock

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 35,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.55, for a total value of $446,303.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Mission Produce Stock Up 0.3%

AVO stock opened at $12.70 on Thursday. Mission Produce, Inc. has a twelve month low of $10.07 and a twelve month high of $15.53. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 423.47 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.79.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 5.91%. The company had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Mission Produce declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AVO. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mission Produce by 36.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,775,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286,263 shares during the period. Fourth Sail Capital LP boosted its stake in shares of Mission Produce by 258.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 3,976,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,880,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,072 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Mission Produce by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,024,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,614,000 after purchasing an additional 334,629 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in Mission Produce during the 1st quarter valued at about $23,756,000. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Mission Produce by 41.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,423,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,778,000 after purchasing an additional 416,126 shares during the last quarter. 63.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday, September 18th. UBS Group set a $16.00 price target on Mission Produce in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Thursday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

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.