Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) Sets New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:AGM) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Saturday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The stock traded as low as $148.53 and last traded at $149.6030, with a volume of 451389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.04.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on AGM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $217.00 to $219.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Federal Agricultural Mortgage has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.00.

Institutional Trading of Federal Agricultural Mortgage

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. grew its position in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. now owns 26,616 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $4,673,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 212 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 0.5% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 17,877 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $3,473,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its holdings in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 1,338 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 7.1% in the third quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. 68.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Stock Down 14.0%

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $174.03 and its 200 day moving average is $175.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.99.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The credit services provider reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.50 by ($0.84). Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a return on equity of 17.93% and a net margin of 15.73%.The firm had revenue of $101.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $107.45 million. Research analysts predict that Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation will post 17.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. This is a boost from Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.06%.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Company Profile

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: AGM), commonly known as Farmer Mac, is a government-sponsored enterprise chartered in 1988 under the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987. Headquartered in Washington, DC, Farmer Mac was established to enhance the availability of mortgage credit for the agricultural and rural utility sectors. The corporation operates as a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural infrastructure loans, providing lenders with liquidity and risk management solutions.

The company’s principal business activities include purchasing and securitizing long-term fixed-rate agricultural mortgage loans and rural utilities loans originated by approved lenders.