Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research note on Friday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Federal Agricultural Mortgage has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $255.00.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Price Performance

Shares of AGM stock opened at $207.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $223.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $192.48. Federal Agricultural Mortgage has a 12 month low of $136.57 and a 12 month high of $248.29. The company has a market capitalization of $2.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.97.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The credit services provider reported $5.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.87 by $0.53. Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a net margin of 29.98% and a return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $125.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.51 million. Analysts predict that Federal Agricultural Mortgage will post 20.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Agricultural Mortgage

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Militia Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,374,000. Huntington Bancshares Inc. MD acquired a new stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,340,508,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 12.7% in 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 last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the first quarter valued at approximately $814,000. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 85.9% in the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 41,592 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $6,170,000 after purchasing an additional 19,217 shares during the period. 68.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 infrastructure loans. Its activities help agricultural lenders obtain funding and liquidity, supporting the availability of credit for farmers, ranchers, rural homeowners and rural businesses across the United States.

Farmer Mac purchases eligible loans and provides loan guarantees, securitization and other financing solutions through its business segments.