Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $93.00.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CALM shares. Stephens set a $85.00 target price on shares of Cal-Maine Foods and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Cal-Maine Foods from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd.

Cal-Maine Foods Price Performance

Cal-Maine Foods stock opened at $86.62 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $82.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.50. Cal-Maine Foods has a 12 month low of $71.92 and a 12 month high of $126.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 billion, a PE ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.26.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $769.50 million during 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 quarterly revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 EPS for the current year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. Cal-Maine Foods’s payout ratio is presently 12.21%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cal-Maine Foods

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 3.2% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 3,280 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 12.8% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,022 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 3.4% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 3,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 7,428 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $591,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 23,884 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

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.