HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 340 Shares of AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in AGCO Co. (NYSE:AGCO) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,359 shares of the industrial products company’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AGCO were worth $781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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 fourth quarter valued at $3,144,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AGCO during the 4th quarter worth $311,000. Olstein Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of AGCO by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 14,500 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of AGCO by 133.0% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 84,441 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $8,263,000 after purchasing an additional 48,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 12,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.80% of the company’s stock.

AGCO Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of AGCO stock opened at $93.58 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $98.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $96.89. AGCO Co. has a 52-week low of $84.35 and a 52-week high of $125.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.34.

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

AGCO Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. AGCO’s payout ratio is -20.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on AGCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AGCO from $102.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on AGCO in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $101.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of AGCO from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of AGCO from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on AGCO from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.60.

AGCO 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.