Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 16,251 Shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. $CALM

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 268,026 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 16,251 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.55% of Cal-Maine Foods worth $25,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CALM. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,063,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 60.1% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 934,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $93,058,000 after purchasing an additional 350,771 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 1,085.8% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 237,566 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 165.6% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 291,434 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,036,000 after purchasing an additional 181,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in Cal-Maine Foods by 66.9% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 435,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,377,000 after buying an additional 174,576 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Cal-Maine Foods Trading Down 2.1%

CALM opened at $82.53 on Friday. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a 1-year low of $71.92 and a 1-year high of $126.40. The company has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.29.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.17 by ($0.04). Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 44.55% and a net margin of 27.37%.The business had revenue of $769.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $828.46 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. will post 15.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cal-Maine Foods Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 28th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 28th. Cal-Maine Foods’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.21%.

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.