New York State Common Retirement Fund Buys 9,805 Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 42.2% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 33,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,805 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cal-Maine Foods were worth $3,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CALM. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 1,085.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 259,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $24,414,000 after buying an additional 237,566 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,274.2% in the third quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 30,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,834,000 after purchasing an additional 27,930 shares during the period. CX Institutional bought a new stake in Cal-Maine Foods in the third quarter valued at $6,488,000. Eldred Rock Partners LLC increased its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 12.4% in the third quarter. Eldred Rock Partners LLC now owns 134,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,632,000 after purchasing an additional 14,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods during the third quarter valued at about $38,063,000. 84.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on CALM shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Cal-Maine Foods from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Stephens set a $85.00 price objective on Cal-Maine Foods and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of Cal-Maine Foods stock opened at $82.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.26. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.92 and a 52 week high of $126.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.29.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last announced 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). Cal-Maine Foods had a net margin of 27.37% and a return on equity of 44.55%. The company had revenue of $769.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $828.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.47 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 EPS for the current year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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%.

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. 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.