Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Sells 35,608 Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 52.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 32,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 35,608 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Cal-Maine Foods were worth $3,334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CALM. Quarry LP grew its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 339.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods in the 4th quarter worth approximately $134,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 350.5% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the period. 84.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CALM shares. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $97.00 price target on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.

Insider Activity at Cal-Maine Foods

In related news, Director Letitia Callender Hughes sold 809 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.97, for a total transaction of $88,965.73. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,702,427.17. This represents a 1.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 13.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Performance

Shares of CALM opened at $83.03 on Friday. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.00 and a fifty-two week high of $116.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $100.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of 6.46 and a beta of -0.12.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.42. Cal-Maine Foods had a net margin of 20.39% and a return on equity of 33.69%. The company had revenue of $954.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $751.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Cal-Maine Foods’s revenue for the quarter was up 82.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 EPS for the current year.

Cal-Maine Foods Company Profile

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.