Stephen Barnard Sells 111,358 Shares of Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Stock

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 111,358 shares of Mission Produce stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.01, for a total value of $1,448,767.58. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 1,695,185 shares in the company, valued at $22,054,356.85. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mission Produce Price Performance

Shares of AVO traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $12.70. 635,811 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,024,980. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.24 and a current ratio of 1.92. Mission Produce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.07 and a 12-month high of $15.53. The company has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 423.47 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.79.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. The company 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Research analysts expect that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Mission Produce in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new stake in Mission Produce in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Mission Produce in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Mission Produce in the second quarter valued at $106,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the 2nd quarter valued at $140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Mission Produce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Thursday, September 10th. UBS Group set a $16.00 price target on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mission Produce has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.