Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) Sees Strong Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating. Morgan Stanley now has a $13.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $9.50. 960,410 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 13% from the previous session’s volume of 848,919 shares.The stock last traded at $13.7140 and had previously closed at $12.45.

AGRO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Truist Financial set a $9.00 target price on shares of Adecoagro in a research note on Friday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Adecoagro in a research note on Monday, December 1st. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $7.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Adecoagro from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Adecoagro from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Adecoagro in a report on Monday, February 16th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Adecoagro

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cantor Fitzgerald L. P. bought a new position in shares of Adecoagro during the third quarter valued at about $1,082,000. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Adecoagro by 166.8% in the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 252,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,305,000 after buying an additional 157,655 shares during the period. Sparta 24 Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Adecoagro by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sparta 24 Ltd. now owns 2,200,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,250,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares during the last quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE bought a new stake in shares of Adecoagro in the 2nd quarter valued at about $774,000. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. purchased a new stake in Adecoagro during the 2nd quarter valued at about $277,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.25% of the company’s stock.

Adecoagro Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $9.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of -170.59 and a beta of 0.44.

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by ($0.07). Adecoagro had a negative return on equity of 1.25% and a negative net margin of 0.55%.The company had revenue of $415.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $371.95 million. Research analysts anticipate that Adecoagro S.A. will post 1.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.