Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.50.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AVO. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price target 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 research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mission Produce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday.

Insider Activity

In other Mission Produce news, CFO Bryan E. Giles sold 5,000 shares of Mission Produce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.13, for a total value of $60,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 146,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,782,273.03. The trade was a 3.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Stephen J. Barnard sold 66,496 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.02, for a total value of $865,777.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,750,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,785,221.34. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 2,462,459 shares of company stock worth $32,451,762 and sold 122,058 shares worth $1,569,231. Company insiders own 30.85% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mission Produce

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVO. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,775,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,263 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its stake in Mission Produce by 258.5% during the second quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 3,976,272 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,880,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,072 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Mission Produce by 12.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,024,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,614,000 after acquiring an additional 334,629 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the 1st quarter worth about $23,756,000. Finally, Platform Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the 4th quarter worth about $12,130,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

Mission Produce Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ AVO opened at $12.80 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $12.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 426.81 and a beta of 0.48. Mission Produce has a 12-month low of $10.07 and a 12-month high of $15.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 5.91%. The business had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $367.57 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Mission Produce will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

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.