Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Trading 11.9% Higher – What’s Next?

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) shares traded up 11.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $11.25 and last traded at $11.3090. 620,535 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 953,355 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on AVO. UBS Group set a $16.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Mission Produce from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Mission Produce to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.67.

Mission Produce Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.91. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $12.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.91. The company has a market cap of $992.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.13 and a beta of 0.50.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.03. Mission Produce had a net margin of 1.83% and a return on equity of 6.92%. The company had revenue of $278.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 26.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Activity

In other Mission Produce news, major shareholder Holdings Venture Globalharvest purchased 3,695 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.94 per share, with a total value of $44,118.30. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 9,991,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,299,429.38. This represents a 0.04% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 30.85% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 809.2% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 444,135 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,111,000 after buying an additional 395,287 shares during the last quarter. RBF Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 40.3% in the first quarter. RBF Capital LLC now owns 104,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after buying an additional 30,000 shares during the last quarter. Amundi bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the first quarter valued at about $192,000. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the first quarter valued at about $23,756,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 437.3% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 361,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,979,000 after buying an additional 294,494 shares during the last quarter. 63.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc is a leading global supplier, packer and distributor of fresh avocados, serving retail, foodservice and industrial customers. The company manages a vertically integrated supply chain that spans sourcing, post-harvest handling, packing and ripening. Through proprietary ripening technologies and cold-chain logistics, Mission Produce delivers consistent quality and extended shelf life for its avocado offerings.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Oxnard, California, Mission Produce grew from a regional packing operation into a publicly traded company listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker AVO.