Regency Centers Corp (REG) Insider Nicholas Andrew Wibbenmeyer Sells 2,621 Shares

Regency Centers Corp (NYSE:REG) insider Nicholas Andrew Wibbenmeyer sold 2,621 shares of Regency Centers stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.27, for a total value of $168,451.67. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

NYSE:REG traded down $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.01. 850,766 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 895,309. Regency Centers Corp has a twelve month low of $55.38 and a twelve month high of $67.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

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Regency Centers (NYSE:REG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.48). Regency Centers had a return on equity of 3.86% and a net margin of 23.19%. The business had revenue of $277.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $269.96 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Regency Centers Corp will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.585 per share. This represents a $2.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 22nd. This is a positive change from Regency Centers’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. Regency Centers’s payout ratio is 60.16%.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,981,523 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $128,144,000 after buying an additional 79,055 shares in the last quarter. Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in shares of Regency Centers in the 4th quarter worth $1,320,000. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 53,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,132,000 after buying an additional 3,958 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 828.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,656,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,822,000 after buying an additional 2,370,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American International Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Regency Centers by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 61,037 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,947,000 after buying an additional 10,984 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.87% of the company’s stock.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered Regency Centers from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 13th. Barclays upgraded Regency Centers from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Monday, February 4th. SunTrust Banks reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Regency Centers in a research report on Friday, February 22nd. Citigroup set a $75.00 target price on Regency Centers and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Regency Centers from a “top pick” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $62.30 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, December 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Regency Centers currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.12.

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Regency Centers Company Profile

Regency Centers is the preeminent national owner, operator, and developer of shopping centers located in affluent and densely populated trade areas. Our portfolio includes thriving properties merchandised with highly productive grocers, restaurants, service providers, and best-in-class retailers that connect to their neighborhoods, communities, and customers.

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Calavo Growers' Earnings Stabilize in the First Quarter

After surprising shareholders with meager operating income and a net loss in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2018, avocado and fruit supplier Calavo Growers (NASDAQ:CVGW) posted appreciably higher operating income in its fiscal first-quarter 2019 report, released on Thursday. The improved results were primarily driven by better execution in avocado distribution despite a weaker pricing environment.

Calavo Growers: The raw numbers Metric Q1 2019 Q1 2018 Growth (YOY)

Revenue	$258.0 million	$247.9 million	4.1%
Net income (loss)	$4.5 million	$7.1 million	(36.6%)
Diluted earnings per share	$0.26	$0.41	(36.6%)

Data source: Calavo Growers. YOY = year over year. 

Image source: Getty Images.

What happened this quarter?

Revenue in Calavo's largest segment, fresh foods, dipped 4.8% year over year to $116.9 million, as a 7% increase in avocado volumes was offset by lower pricing against the prior-year period. However, gross margin jumped by more than 6 percentage points to 17.8%, as the company "leveraged its core strengths" in the areas of avocado sourcing, sales management, and production.

Sales in the company's Renaissance Food Group (RFG) segment rose more than 12% over the prior year's result to $119.1 million. However, higher raw ingredient costs and a consumer advisory on romaine lettuce pressured gross margin, which fell 270 basis points to 3%.

Calavo Growers' smallest segment, Calavo Foods, supplies distributors and retailers with refrigerated, pressure-packed guacamole and packaged fruit products. This segment enjoyed a 16% increase in sales year over year to $22.1 million. Gross margin retraced 230 basis points to 29.1%, but the higher sales level ensured that gross profit in dollars of $6.4 million exceeded the prior year's gross profit total of $6 million.

Calavo Growers enjoyed lower overhead expenses during the quarter. Selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses of $14.3 million compared favorably to the $15.5 million of SG&A expenses booked in the first quarter of 2018. Management attributed the decreased expenses to lower costs associated with broker commissions and incentive compensation.

Due to the higher gross margin in fresh foods and the controlled overhead expenses, Calavo's operating income of $16.6 million handily outpaced the comparable quarter's operating income of $10.8 million.

However, new GAAP rules on investments required Calavo to include an unrealized loss of $4.5 million on its shares in Limoneira Company in this quarter's income statement.

Calavo also recognized a loss of $6.4 million in its interest in unconsolidated subsidiaries, which was primarily attributed to losses in the company's FreshRealm packaged-food and meal-kit subsidiary.

The investment and subsidiary losses outpaced Calavo's operating profits, resulting in the negative earnings growth seen in the table above. Removing these effects, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74 exceeded the prior-year period's adjusted EPS by 37%. What management had to say

After several disparate factors combined in the previous quarter to produce low margins and scant operating income, Calavo Growers' three segments appear to have stabilized in the first quarter of the fiscal year. Calavo CEO Lee Cole commented on the favorable results in the company's earnings press release:

Calavo's businesses are executing well and we are excited about the course ahead in fiscal 2019 and beyond. With our deep breadth of resources -- operating, financial and human capital -- as well as planned initiatives during the current year, we think the future looks exceedingly positive and I am eagerly anticipating reporting on the company's continued progress.

Looking forward

Calavo Growers doesn't provide detailed earnings guidance. However, in addition to the optimistic outlook provided above, CEO Cole also expressed confidence in the company's FreshRealm subsidiary, which has contributed losses to Calavo of late, but has the potential to add to the company's bottom line.

Cole noted that Calavo has extended a loan package to FreshRealm (totaling nearly $20 million), which should help the organization expand its meal-kit operations. Cole also noted that Calavo Growers' confidence in FreshRealm has been boosted by cost-cutting initiatives in the subsidiary and a "meaningful" new supply contract signed in the first quarter with "a large multi-national, multi-channel retailer."

Further detail on FreshRealm should be available when Calavo files its more detailed 10-Q report for this quarter. Yet clearly, management is counting on the fresh packaged food segment to eventually bolster Calavo's already bright long-term growth prospects.