Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $28.99 and last traded at $28.99, with a volume of 5180 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $27.20.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LMNR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley upped their target price on Limoneira from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Lake Street Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Limoneira in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Limoneira from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.33.

Limoneira Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $512.80 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.97 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.93.

Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR) last released its earnings results on Monday, September 9th. The company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.03. Limoneira had a return on equity of 3.97% and a net margin of 3.24%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.85 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Limoneira will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Limoneira Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Monday, October 7th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 7th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. Limoneira’s dividend payout ratio is presently 103.45%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Limoneira

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Limoneira by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Global Alpha Capital Management Ltd. now owns 3,006,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,816,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Limoneira by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 927,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,151,000 after acquiring an additional 14,572 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in Limoneira by 3.5% during the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 211,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,135,000 after acquiring an additional 7,103 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Limoneira by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 200,423 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,245,000 after purchasing an additional 64,392 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Limoneira by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 129,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,934 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.35% of the company’s stock.

About Limoneira

Limoneira Company operates as an agribusiness and real estate development company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three divisions: Agribusiness, Rental Operations, and Real Estate Development. It grows, processes, packs, markets, and sells lemons. The company also grows avocado, oranges, and specialty citrus and other crops, including Moro blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, Valencia oranges, Minneola tangelos, Star Ruby grapefruit, pummelos, and wine grapes.