Mission Produce’s (AVO) Buy Rating Reiterated at Roth Capital

Roth Capital reiterated their buy rating on shares of Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Roth Capital currently has a $17.00 price objective on the stock.

AVO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Friday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, UBS Group set a $16.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $16.50.

Mission Produce Price Performance

AVO stock opened at $13.01 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 433.81 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.92. Mission Produce has a 52-week low of $10.07 and a 52-week high of $15.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.88.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 0.12%.The firm had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.57 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Mission Produce will post 0.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mission Produce declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, June 8th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Mission Produce

In other news, Director Jay A. Pack bought 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was bought at an average price of $12.10 per share, for a total transaction of $484,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 579,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,017,576.50. This represents a 7.41% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Bryan E. Giles sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was 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. This represents a 3.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have bought a total of 3,148,869 shares of company stock valued at $40,194,872 over the last quarter. 30.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mission Produce

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,286,263 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP lifted its stake in Mission Produce by 258.5% in the second 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 boosted its position 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 valued at $41,614,000 after buying an additional 334,629 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Mission Produce during the first quarter valued at about $23,756,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mission Produce by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,048,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,166,000 after buying an additional 3,744 shares during the last quarter. 63.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.