Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc saw huge growth in short interest during May, with shares up 31.2% from the previous month, says Riverton Roll.

As of May 31st, there was short interest totaling 781,500 shares, compared with the April 30th total of 595,700 shares.

Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 242,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days.

In related news, Director Michael J. Berthelot sold 2,207 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17.

The stock was sold at an average price of US$29.37, for a total value of US$64,819.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, and is accessible through the SEC website.

Company insiders own 37.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional investors and hedge funds changing positions in Fresh Del Monte

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have raised their stakes in the company recently.

To start, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Fresh Del Monte Produce by 31.0% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 137,051 shares of the company’s stock valued at US$4,644,000 after purchasing an additional 32,466 shares in the last quarter.

Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB raised its stake in Fresh Del Monte Produce by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Xact Kapitalforvaltning AB now owns 7,637 shares of the company’s stock valued at US$216,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter.

Meanwhile, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Fresh Del Monte Produce by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at US$332,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares in the last quarter.

Additionally,  Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Fresh Del Monte Produce by 40.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 47,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at US$1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 13,689 shares in the last quarter.

Finally, Dupont Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Fresh Del Monte Produce in the fourth quarter valued at about $370,000. 60.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FDP market capitalization

Shares of FDP stock opened at US$27.71 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of US$1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 561.80 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Fresh Del Monte Produce has a 1 year low of US$24.15 and a 1 year high of US$45.30.

Moreover, the company last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th.

The company reported US$0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of US$0.39 by $0.09.

The company had revenue of US$1.15 billion for the quarter.

Fresh Del Monte Produce had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.60%.

Its revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted US$0.88 earnings per share.