Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Buys New Position in Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in shares of Calavo Growers, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGW) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 34,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Calavo Growers during the second quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Calavo Growers by 40.3% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its position in Calavo Growers by 318.4% in the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 5,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,094 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Calavo Growers by 13.8% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 9,841 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Calavo Growers in the first quarter worth $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.30% of the company’s stock.

Calavo Growers Stock Up 2.5 %

CVGW stock opened at $28.72 on Thursday. Calavo Growers, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.30 and a 1-year high of $31.26. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.52. The stock has a market cap of $511.22 million, a P/E ratio of -319.11 and a beta of 0.57.

Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.21. Calavo Growers had a positive return on equity of 6.35% and a negative net margin of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $179.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $175.00 million. Analysts expect that Calavo Growers, Inc. will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Calavo Growers Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 2nd. This is a boost from Calavo Growers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Calavo Growers’s dividend payout ratio is currently -888.89%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised Calavo Growers from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd.

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.