Dole PLC $DOLE Shares Acquired by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Dole PLC (NYSE:DOLE) by 29.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 723,810 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 164,120 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Dole were worth $10,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DOLE. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Dole by 87.8% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 111,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 51,973 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dole by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 125,709 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,816,000 after acquiring an additional 15,407 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in Dole in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $186,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Dole during the first quarter worth $9,062,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Dole by 237.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 242,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 170,460 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on DOLE shares. Wall Street Zen cut Dole from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Dole in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $16.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Dole in a research report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.00.

Dole Price Performance

Dole stock opened at $14.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.64. Dole PLC has a 12-month low of $12.20 and a 12-month high of $15.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $13.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $13.84.

Dole (NYSE:DOLE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Dole had a net margin of 0.17% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Dole PLC will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Dole Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 9th. Dole’s dividend payout ratio is currently 226.67%.

Dole announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Monday, November 10th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Dole Profile

Dole Food Company, Inc (Dole) is a producer, marketer and distributor of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. The Company is a producer of bananas and pineapples, and packaged fruit products, packaged salads and fresh-packed vegetables. The Company has three business segments: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables and packaged foods.