Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) Lifted to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Adecoagro from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $10.50 to $11.50 in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $12.50.

Adecoagro Trading Up 0.5 %

AGRO opened at $9.47 on Friday. Adecoagro has a 52 week low of $8.96 and a 52 week high of $12.51. The company has a market capitalization of $986.21 million, a P/E ratio of 4.01, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $9.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 2.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Adecoagro had a net margin of 19.18% and a return on equity of 10.55%. The company had revenue of $261.78 million for the quarter. Analysts forecast that Adecoagro will post 1.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Adecoagro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.1682 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 13th. This is a positive change from Adecoagro’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. Adecoagro’s payout ratio is 14.41%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adecoagro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Adecoagro in the fourth quarter worth about $284,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in Adecoagro by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 74,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Adecoagro by 60.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 442,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,914,000 after buying an additional 167,608 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adecoagro during the fourth quarter worth $2,294,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Adecoagro by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,371,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,622,000 after buying an additional 255,684 shares during the period. 45.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Adecoagro

Adecoagro SA operates as an agro-industrial company in South America. The company mainly operates through three segments: Farming; Sugar, Ethanol and Energy; and Land Transformation. It engages in farming crops, rice and other agricultural products, dairy operations, and land transformation activities, as well as sugar, ethanol, and energy production activities.