Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Stock: Insider Stephen Barnard Sells 21,646 Shares

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 21,646 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total value of $281,398.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 1,684,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,902,322. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Mission Produce Trading Up 1.4%

AVO traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $13.14. 931,019 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,025,404. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $12.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.78. Mission Produce, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.07 and a 1-year high of $15.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 438.15 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Mission Produce announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, June 8th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 12th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Mission Produce from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, UBS Group set a $16.00 price objective on Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Mission Produce currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Institutional Trading of Mission Produce

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVO. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Mission Produce during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mission Produce in the 2nd quarter valued at about $106,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Mission Produce during the 2nd quarter valued at about $140,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

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.