Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Separately, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research note on Thursday, March 6th.

Cal-Maine Foods Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods stock opened at $93.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.24 and a beta of -0.12. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.90. Cal-Maine Foods has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $116.41.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $4.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $751.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 82.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CALM. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 350.5% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,118 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 23,553 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,424,000 after purchasing an additional 3,449 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in Cal-Maine Foods in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $788,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,061.3% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 32,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,330,000 after buying an additional 30,089 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 339.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the period. 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.