Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Stock Has Average Target Price of $16.00 According to Analysts

Shares of Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $16.00.

AVO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Santander assumed coverage on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mission Produce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th.

Insider Transactions at Mission Produce

In other Mission Produce news, Director Luis A. Gonzalez acquired 29,996 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.59 per share, for a total transaction of $347,653.64. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 7,004,139 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $81,177,971.01. This trade represents a 0.43% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman Stephen J. Barnard sold 111,358 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total value of $1,448,767.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman directly owned 1,695,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,054,356.85. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 250,062 shares of company stock valued at $3,238,747 in the last three months. 30.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVO. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Mission Produce by 36.9% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its position in shares of Mission Produce by 258.5% in 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mission Produce by 12.4% in 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 last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Mission Produce in the 1st quarter worth about $23,756,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Mission Produce by 41.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

Mission Produce Stock Performance

Mission Produce stock opened at $10.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $962.73 million, a PE ratio of 366.12 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.92. Mission Produce has a one year low of $10.07 and a one year high of $15.53.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last released 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 firm had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $367.57 million. Mission Produce had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 0.12%. Mission Produce’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mission Produce will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mission Produce Company Profile

Mission Produce, Inc is an international avocado sourcing, production, packing, marketing and distribution company headquartered in Oxnard, California. The company supplies fresh avocados to retailers, foodservice operators and wholesale customers under the Mission brand and other customer-specific programs.

Mission Produce sources avocados from growing regions in North and South America and operates or partners with farming, packing and distribution operations in multiple countries. Its activities include fruit procurement, ripening, quality control, packaging, logistics and global marketing, helping customers receive avocados at different stages of ripeness.

In addition to avocados, the company participates in the mango category and markets related fresh-produce offerings in selected channels.