Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) Short Interest Down 7.9% in March

Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 967,100 shares, a decline of 7.9% from the March 15th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 183,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.3 days. Approximately 5.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Calavo Growers

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kent Lake Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Calavo Growers by 200.0% during the 4th quarter. Kent Lake Capital LLC now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,823,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Calavo Growers in the 3rd quarter valued at $555,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in shares of Calavo Growers by 693.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 61,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,554,000 after acquiring an additional 53,844 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Calavo Growers by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 197,202 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,975,000 after purchasing an additional 31,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Calavo Growers by 93.9% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 122,026 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 59,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Calavo Growers in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Calavo Growers Stock Performance

Shares of CVGW traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 127,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 176,207. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Calavo Growers has a 1-year low of $21.42 and a 1-year high of $38.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.82. The stock has a market cap of $447.67 million, a P/E ratio of -38.11 and a beta of 0.65.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $127.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $254.25 million. Calavo Growers had a negative net margin of 1.32% and a positive return on equity of 0.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Calavo Growers will post 1.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Calavo Growers Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. Calavo Growers’s dividend payout ratio is presently -60.61%.

Calavo Growers Company Profile

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.