Stock Buyback Plan Initiated by AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) Board

AGCO (NYSE:AGCO - Get Free Report) declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 9th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the industrial products company to purchase up to 12.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

AGCO Stock Down 2.4%

NYSE AGCO traded down $2.77 during trading on Friday, hitting $111.00. The stock had a trading volume of 168,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 882,998. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of -14.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50-day moving average price is $102.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $96.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.53. AGCO has a 12 month low of $73.79 and a 12 month high of $116.25.

AGCO (NYSE:AGCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The industrial products company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.06 billion. AGCO had a positive return on equity of 10.60% and a negative net margin of 5.40%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 30.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that AGCO will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

AGCO Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.29 per share. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. AGCO's dividend payout ratio is currently -14.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AGCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AGCO from $117.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating and set a $110.00 target price on shares of AGCO in a research report on Friday, May 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on AGCO from $91.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group set a $106.00 price objective on AGCO in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on AGCO from $109.00 to $106.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $105.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Kelvin Eugene Bennett sold 250 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.18, for a total transaction of $26,545.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 17,380 shares in the company, valued at $1,845,408.40. This represents a 1.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 16.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AGCO Company Profile

AGCO Corporation manufactures and distributes agricultural equipment and related replacement parts worldwide. It offers horsepower tractors for row crop production, soil cultivation, planting, land leveling, seeding, and commercial hay operations; utility tractors for small- and medium-sized farms, as well as for dairy, livestock, orchards, and vineyards; and compact tractors for small farms, specialty agricultural industries, landscaping, equestrian, and residential uses.