Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Raises Stock Holdings in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) by 24.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 223,300 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,400 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Calavo Growers were worth $5,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CVGW. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Calavo Growers in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Calavo Growers by 69.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter worth approximately $76,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Calavo Growers during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $247,000. Finally, Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Michael A. Browne acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.69 per share, for a total transaction of $142,140.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $177,675. This represents a 400.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lecil E. Cole bought 21,070 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.73 per share, for a total transaction of $499,991.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 536,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,720,941.10. This represents a 4.09 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 35,283 shares of company stock valued at $832,690. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Calavo Growers Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CVGW opened at $24.66 on Thursday. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.30 and a 1 year high of $30.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.25. The company has a market cap of $439.86 million, a P/E ratio of -411.00 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 2.17 and a quick ratio of 1.70.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $169.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.99 million. Calavo Growers had a positive return on equity of 9.66% and a negative net margin of 0.16%. Calavo Growers’s revenue was up 19.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.33) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Calavo Growers Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. Calavo Growers’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CVGW shares. StockNews.com downgraded Calavo Growers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Lake Street Capital cut their price objective on shares of Calavo Growers from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

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.