Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Stock Has Average Price Target of $16.00

Shares of Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $16.00.

AVO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Mission Produce from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Friday, October 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mission Produce

In other Mission Produce news, Chairman Stephen J. Barnard sold 21,646 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total transaction of $281,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,684,794 shares in the company, valued at $21,902,322. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Luis A. Gonzalez acquired 22,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $11.22 per share, with a total value of $247,131.72. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,026,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,833,571.30. The trade was a 0.31% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 250,062 shares of company stock worth $3,238,747 in the last 90 days. 30.85% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVO. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 251.8% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 269,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,175,000 after acquiring an additional 192,741 shares during the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Mission Produce in the first quarter worth about $23,756,000. Heartland Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Mission Produce in the second quarter worth about $3,882,000. Dean Capital Management bought a new stake in Mission Produce during the first quarter worth approximately $2,058,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Mission Produce during the second quarter worth approximately $2,836,000. 63.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mission Produce Price Performance

Shares of AVO stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.20. The stock had a trading volume of 918,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,075,660. Mission Produce has a one year low of $10.07 and a one year high of $15.53. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 406.80 and a beta of 0.43.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a return on equity of 5.91% and a net margin of 0.12%. The company had revenue of $450.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Mission Produce will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc is a global avocado sourcing, distribution and marketing company headquartered in Oxnard, California. The company supplies fresh avocados to retailers, foodservice operators, wholesalers and other customers, managing activities that include procurement, quality control, ripening, packaging and distribution.

Mission Produce sources avocados from growing regions in North and South America and other international markets. Its operations are supported by ripening and distribution facilities designed to provide customers with avocados at different stages of readiness.