Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard Sells 66,496 Shares of Stock

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 66,496 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.02, for a total transaction of $865,777.92. Following the sale, the chairman owned 1,750,017 shares in the company, valued at $22,785,221.34. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Mission Produce Trading Down 3.3%

AVO traded down $0.42 on Tuesday, hitting $12.39. The company had a trading volume of 937,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,295. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 413.14 and a beta of 0.48. Mission Produce, Inc. has a 12-month low of $10.07 and a 12-month high of $15.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.86.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $450.00 million during 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.56 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

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

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.