Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 137,330 Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its stake in Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,009,127 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 137,330 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 10.33% of Cal-Maine Foods worth $471,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CALM. Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,063,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 60.1% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 934,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,058,000 after purchasing an additional 350,771 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,085.8% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 259,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,414,000 after purchasing an additional 237,566 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 165.6% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 291,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,036,000 after purchasing an additional 181,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in Cal-Maine Foods by 66.9% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 435,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,377,000 after buying an additional 174,576 shares during the period. 84.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:CALM opened at $84.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $81.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.07. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.92 and a 52 week high of $126.40.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.17 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $769.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $828.46 million. Cal-Maine Foods had a net margin of 27.37% and a return on equity of 44.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $4.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Cal-Maine Foods’s payout ratio is currently 12.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CALM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Stephens set a $85.00 target price on shares of Cal-Maine Foods and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Cal-Maine Foods from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

About Cal-Maine Foods

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces, grades, packages, markets, and distributes shell eggs. The company offers specialty shell eggs, such as nutritionally enhanced, cage free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, and brown eggs under the Egg-Land's Best, Land O' Lakes, Farmhouse Eggs, Sunups, Sunny Meadow, and 4Grain brand names. It sells its products to various customers, including national and regional grocery store chains, club stores, independent supermarkets, foodservice distributors, and egg product consumers primarily in the southwestern, southeastern, mid-western, and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.