Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard Sells 66,496 Shares of Stock

Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Chairman Stephen Barnard sold 66,496 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.02, for a total transaction of $865,777.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 1,750,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,785,221.34. This represents a 3.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Mission Produce Price Performance

NASDAQ:AVO opened at $12.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 413.14 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.85. Mission Produce, Inc. has a one year low of $10.07 and a one year high of $15.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.24.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $367.57 million. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 5.91%. Mission Produce’s revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Mission Produce, Inc. will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on AVO shares. UBS Group set a $16.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mission Produce from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Friday, September 4th. Finally, Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $17.00 price objective on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVO. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Mission Produce in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Mission Produce during the second quarter worth about $106,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce in the second quarter worth approximately $140,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.57% of the company’s stock.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc (NASDAQ:AVO) is an avocado sourcing, production, distribution and marketing company headquartered in Oxnard, California. The company supplies fresh Hass avocados and other avocado varieties to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers, managing activities across the supply chain from growing and procurement to ripening, packing and delivery.

Mission Produce works with avocado growers and operates or manages production and distribution activities in several major growing regions, including Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and the United States.