Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP cut its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 24.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,099,946 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 355,806 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Cal-Maine Foods were worth $103,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cal-Maine Foods during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Financial Consulate Inc. purchased a new position in Cal-Maine Foods in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods in the third quarter worth $66,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 80.9% in the second quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 671 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

Cal-Maine Foods Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CALM opened at $89.84 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.86. The company has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.26. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.92 and a 1 year high of $126.40.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $769.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $828.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.47 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 28th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. Cal-Maine Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CALM. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Cal-Maine Foods from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Stephens set a $85.00 target price on Cal-Maine Foods and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Cal-Maine Foods 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.