AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $84.83, but opened at $91.32. AGCO shares last traded at $93.85, with a volume of 124,567 shares.

The industrial products company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.06 billion. AGCO had a positive return on equity of 13.40% and a negative net margin of 3.64%. AGCO’s revenue was down 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.32 EPS.

AGCO Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. AGCO’s dividend payout ratio is currently -20.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AGCO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup upgraded AGCO from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $98.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on AGCO from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of AGCO from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group set a $106.00 price objective on shares of AGCO in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Baird R W cut AGCO from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, AGCO has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AGCO

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Forum Financial Management LP purchased a new position in AGCO during the first quarter valued at $251,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of AGCO by 33.3% in the first quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,180 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $294,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Shayne & Jacobs LLC lifted its position in shares of AGCO by 0.9% in the first quarter. Shayne & Jacobs LLC now owns 21,760 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AGCO by 12.0% during the first quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 4,678 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in AGCO by 8.6% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,903,478 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $176,205,000 after buying an additional 150,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.80% of the company’s stock.

AGCO Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $7.10 billion, a PE ratio of -16.72, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.34.

About AGCO

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.