Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) Stock Falls 8.7% Following Weak Earnings

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:AGM) shares traded down 8.7% on Friday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock traded as low as $172.10 and last traded at $180.68. 44,376 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 118,827 shares. The stock had previously closed at $197.97.

The credit services provider reported $4.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.20 by ($0.38). The firm had revenue of $125.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.29 million. Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 29.98%.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AGM shares. Zacks Research cut Federal Agricultural Mortgage from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research report on Friday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Militia Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the first quarter worth $2,374,000. Huntington Bancshares Inc. MD bought a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,340,508,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 351,330 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $52,123,000 after purchasing an additional 39,702 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage during the 1st quarter worth about $814,000. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 85.9% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 41,592 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $6,170,000 after purchasing an additional 19,217 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.03% of the company’s stock.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Trading Down 8.7%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $212.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.02.

About Federal Agricultural Mortgage

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as Farmer Mac, is a federally chartered corporation that provides a secondary market for agricultural and rural lending. Established by Congress in 1988, the company is intended to improve the availability of credit for American agriculture and rural communities.

Farmer Mac purchases, guarantees and finances agricultural real estate loans, rural housing loans and loans supporting rural utilities and infrastructure. Its products and services also include financing for agricultural production and equipment, as well as liquidity and credit support for lenders through loan purchases, guarantees and securitization programs.

The company serves agricultural lenders, rural utilities, cooperatives and other eligible financial institutions across the United States.