Analysts Set Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) Target Price at $93.00

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the five research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $93.00.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CALM shares. 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. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research note on Monday, January 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped 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. Finally, Stephens set a $85.00 price objective on Cal-Maine Foods and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cal-Maine Foods

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CALM. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 1,085.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 259,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,414,000 after purchasing an additional 237,566 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 268,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,221,000 after purchasing an additional 16,251 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,274.2% during the 3rd quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 30,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,834,000 after buying an additional 27,930 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Cal-Maine Foods in the third quarter worth $6,488,000. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in Cal-Maine Foods by 42.2% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 33,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,110,000 after buying an additional 9,805 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

Cal-Maine Foods Price Performance

Cal-Maine Foods stock opened at $83.44 on Friday. Cal-Maine Foods has a one year low of $71.92 and a one year high of $126.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $81.69 and its 200 day moving average is $92.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.26.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $769.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.46 million. Cal-Maine Foods had a net margin of 27.37% and a return on equity of 44.55%. Cal-Maine Foods’s revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 28th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Cal-Maine Foods’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.21%.

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.