Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $13.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $9.50.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on AGRO. Weiss Ratings raised Adecoagro from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen cut Adecoagro from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 23rd. Citigroup initiated coverage on Adecoagro in a report on Monday, February 16th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Adecoagro from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Adecoagro from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adecoagro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $9.20.

Adecoagro Trading Up 7.7%

AGRO opened at $14.69 on Tuesday. Adecoagro has a twelve month low of $6.89 and a twelve month high of $14.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.33 and a 200-day moving average of $8.41. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a PE ratio of -183.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) last released its earnings results on Monday, March 16th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $415.94 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $371.95 million. Adecoagro had a negative net margin of 0.55% and a negative return on equity of 1.17%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Adecoagro will post 1.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Adecoagro in the fourth quarter valued at about $147,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL boosted its holdings in Adecoagro by 134.0% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 88,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 50,464 shares during the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in Adecoagro in the 4th quarter worth about $939,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Adecoagro in the 4th quarter worth about $123,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Adecoagro by 240.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 276,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after buying an additional 195,308 shares during the last quarter. 45.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.