Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) Shares Down 5.1% – Time to Sell?

Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO) shares dropped 5.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $12.89 and last traded at $12.9290. Approximately 280,628 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 1,243,012 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AGRO has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group raised shares of Adecoagro from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $8.00 to $16.20 in a report on Monday, March 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Adecoagro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup downgraded shares of Adecoagro from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $13.00 to $15.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Adecoagro from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Adecoagro from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Adecoagro currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $11.53.

Adecoagro Trading Down 5.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 640.87 and a beta of -0.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $13.62 and its 200 day moving average is $10.22.

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.49). Adecoagro had a negative return on equity of 2.38% and a net margin of 0.95%.The firm had revenue of $419.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $408.94 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Adecoagro S.A. will post 1.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Adecoagro Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a $0.1213 dividend. This represents a yield of 160.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Adecoagro’s dividend payout ratio is 1,200.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Mariano Bosch sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total value of $1,450,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 897,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,010,110.50. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 106,815 shares of company stock valued at $1,540,799. Corporate insiders own 6.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Adecoagro

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Adecoagro by 1,328.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 78,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 73,045 shares during the period. Amundi purchased a new stake in Adecoagro in the 1st quarter worth about $1,436,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Adecoagro by 4.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 197,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,963,000 after acquiring an additional 8,341 shares during the period. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Adecoagro during the first quarter worth approximately $407,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of Adecoagro during the first quarter worth approximately $509,000. 45.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adecoagro Company Profile

Adecoagro (NYSE: AGRO) is a leading agricultural and renewable energy company with core operations in South America. Founded in 2002 by Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro Bulgheroni, the company has grown into a vertically integrated platform covering crop production, sugar and ethanol manufacturing, and dairy operations. Adecoagro’s business model spans the full value chain, from seed selection and planting through harvesting, processing and distribution of commodities.

The company manages over 700,000 hectares of farmland across Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.