Brandes Investment Partners LP Acquires Shares of 9,176 AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO)

Brandes Investment Partners LP bought a new stake in AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 9,176 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $858,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AGCO in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,144,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in AGCO in the fourth quarter worth approximately $311,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in AGCO by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 14,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in AGCO by 133.0% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 84,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $8,263,000 after buying an additional 48,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in AGCO by 2.0% in the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 623,585 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $61,024,000 after buying an additional 12,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on AGCO from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on AGCO in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $101.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AGCO from $102.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com upgraded AGCO from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on AGCO from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $104.30.

AGCO Stock Up 2.1 %

AGCO opened at $94.10 on Friday. AGCO Co. has a 1-year low of $84.35 and a 1-year high of $125.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $98.45 and a 200-day moving average of $96.53.

AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The industrial products company reported $1.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.01 by ($0.04). AGCO had a negative net margin of 3.64% and a positive return on equity of 13.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that AGCO Co. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

AGCO Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.29 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. AGCO’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -20.39%.

AGCO Company Profile

AGCO Corporation manufactures and distributes agricultural equipment and related replacement parts worldwide. It offers horsepower tractors for row crop production, soil cultivation, planting, land leveling, seeding, and commercial hay operations; utility tractors for small- and medium-sized farms, as well as for dairy, livestock, orchards, and vineyards; and compact tractors for small farms, specialty agricultural industries, landscaping, equestrian, and residential uses.