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

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) by 24.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 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 owned about 2.27% of Cal-Maine Foods worth $103,505,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,052,171 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $193,118,000 after purchasing an additional 39,669 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,716,731 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,038,000 after buying an additional 108,578 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,618,491 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $152,300,000 after buying an additional 54,757 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 7.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,095,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $109,132,000 after acquiring an additional 76,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in Cal-Maine Foods by 60.1% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 934,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,058,000 after acquiring an additional 350,771 shares during the last quarter. 84.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Cal-Maine Foods from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Cal-Maine Foods from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cal-Maine Foods in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cal-Maine Foods has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CALM opened at $89.84 on Monday. Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.92 and a fifty-two week high of $126.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $81.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.26.

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 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 firm had revenue of $769.50 million during 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 revenue for the quarter was down 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 28th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 28th. Cal-Maine Foods’s payout ratio is currently 12.21%.

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. 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.