Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:CALM) saw a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,300,000 shares, an increase of 14.7% from the January 15th total of 3,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 653,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.6 days. Approximately 10.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cal-Maine Foods news, Director Letitia Callender Hughes sold 809 shares of Cal-Maine Foods stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.97, for a total value of $88,965.73. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,702,427.17. The trade was a 1.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 13.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cal-Maine Foods

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CALM. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Krane Funds Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cal-Maine Foods in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 32.5% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 770 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cal-Maine Foods by 339.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,032 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 797 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Cal-Maine Foods in the fourth quarter worth approximately $134,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Cal-Maine Foods from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th.

Cal-Maine Foods Stock Performance

CALM stock traded down $13.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $95.10. 2,079,912 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 792,419. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.40 and a beta of -0.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $106.92 and a 200-day moving average of $90.69. Cal-Maine Foods has a 52-week low of $54.88 and a 52-week high of $116.41.

Cal-Maine Foods (NASDAQ:CALM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 7th. The basic materials company reported $4.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.05 by $0.42. Cal-Maine Foods had a return on equity of 33.69% and a net margin of 20.39%. The company had revenue of $954.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $751.50 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. Cal-Maine Foods’s quarterly revenue was up 82.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Cal-Maine Foods will post 15.59 earnings per share for the current year.

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.