Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 92.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 19,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 239,522 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Cal-Maine Foods were worth $1,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cal-Maine Foods by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,052,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $193,118,000 after purchasing an additional 39,669 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 6.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,716,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,038,000 after buying an additional 108,578 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 3.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,618,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,300,000 after buying an additional 54,757 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $93,058,000 after acquiring an additional 350,771 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 8.4% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 900,466 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,734,000 after acquiring an additional 70,063 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

Cal-Maine Foods Price Performance

CALM opened at $78.66 on Tuesday. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.92 and a 1-year high of $126.40. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.40.

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

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 28th. Cal-Maine Foods’s payout ratio is 12.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CALM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a report on Friday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. Stephens increased their price target on shares of Cal-Maine Foods from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Cal-Maine Foods from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Cal-Maine Foods Profile

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.