Dole (NYSE:DOLE) Stock Picked Up by Analysts at Freedom Broker

Freedom Broker assumed coverage on shares of Dole (NYSE:DOLE) in a research report issued on Wednesday, Zacks reports. The firm set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on DOLE. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Dole from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $14.00 target price on shares of Dole in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Dole from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dole currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.00.

Dole Stock Performance

DOLE opened at $13.81 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.28. Dole has a 52-week low of $12.59 and a 52-week high of $16.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a PE ratio of 12.00, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.75.

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46. The firm had revenue of $2.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.53 billion. Dole had a return on equity of 7.06% and a net margin of 0.63%. The business’s revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dole will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Dole

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its stake in shares of Dole by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 9,427,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,719,000 after acquiring an additional 54,700 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Dole by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,999,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,438,000 after acquiring an additional 659,892 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Dole by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 753,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,771,000 after purchasing an additional 149,674 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Dole by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 449,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,422,000 after purchasing an additional 16,811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Dole by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 256,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,668,000 after purchasing an additional 34,805 shares during the last quarter.

About Dole

Dole plc is a global producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and vegetables. The company supplies a broad portfolio of products, including bananas, pineapples, grapes, berries, citrus fruit, avocados, salads and other packaged and prepared produce. Its activities span farming, sourcing, processing, packaging, transportation and distribution.

Dole serves retail, foodservice and wholesale customers through operations and supply networks across North America, Europe, Latin America, Africa and other international markets.