Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 150,656 Shares of AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO) by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 684,249 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150,656 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in AGCO were worth $66,959,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of AGCO. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of AGCO by 252.0% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,317 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 5,954 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its stake in AGCO by 69.0% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,922 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $2,205,000 after buying an additional 7,316 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in AGCO by 6.6% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,439 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in AGCO by 16.0% in the first quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,880 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $723,000 after buying an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in AGCO by 28.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 63,831 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $7,853,000 after buying an additional 14,201 shares in the last quarter. 78.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of AGCO from $112.00 to $99.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of AGCO from $131.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of AGCO from $107.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of AGCO from $130.00 to $115.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of AGCO in a report on Friday, August 9th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $96.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AGCO has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.40.

AGCO Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE:AGCO opened at $91.86 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $95.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.18. AGCO Co. has a 52 week low of $84.35 and a 52 week high of $130.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.65, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.25.

AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The industrial products company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by ($0.40). AGCO had a net margin of 1.35% and a return on equity of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.97 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AGCO Co. will post 7.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AGCO Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. AGCO’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.33%.

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.