Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard Sells 15,000 Shares of Stock

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.10, for a total transaction of $196,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 35,062 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,312.20. This represents a 29.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mission Produce Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVO opened at $12.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.93 and a 200-day moving average of $12.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 413.14 and a beta of 0.48. Mission Produce, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.07 and a fifty-two week high of $15.53.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $450.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.57 million. Mission Produce had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 0.12%.Mission Produce’s revenue was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 16,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $197,000 after acquiring an additional 3,961 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advantage Inc. acquired a new stake in Mission Produce during the 2nd quarter valued at $311,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new stake in Mission Produce during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,836,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Mission Produce by 20.8% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 15,236 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 2,628 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP boosted its position in Mission Produce by 660.8% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 213,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,516,000 after purchasing an additional 185,366 shares during the period. 63.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on AVO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group set a $16.00 price target on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Wednesday, June 10th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Friday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.50.

About Mission Produce

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.