Short Interest in Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO) Declines By 5.2%

Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,270,000 shares, a decrease of 5.2% from the October 15th total of 1,340,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 871,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on AGRO. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Adecoagro in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley cut Adecoagro from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $14.50 to $12.50 in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Adecoagro from $15.50 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Adecoagro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

Institutional Trading of Adecoagro

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Adecoagro by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 71,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $788,000 after purchasing an additional 8,559 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new position in Adecoagro in the first quarter worth approximately $306,000. Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new stake in Adecoagro during the first quarter worth $4,174,000. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in Adecoagro by 410.7% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 679,537 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,489,000 after buying an additional 546,465 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Adecoagro by 108.4% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 48,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $472,000 after acquiring an additional 25,240 shares in the last quarter. 45.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adecoagro Trading Up 5.8 %

AGRO opened at $11.37 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.52. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.58, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.08. Adecoagro has a 52 week low of $8.72 and a 52 week high of $12.51.

Adecoagro Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a $0.174 dividend. This is an increase from Adecoagro’s previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.16. This represents a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Adecoagro’s payout ratio is presently 22.67%.

About Adecoagro

Adecoagro SA operates as an agro-industrial company in South America. The company mainly operates through three segments: Farming; Sugar, Ethanol and Energy; and Land Transformation. It engages in farming crops, rice and other agricultural products, dairy operations, and land transformation activities, as well as sugar, ethanol, and energy production activities.