American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Position in Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation $AGM

American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (NYSE:AGM) by 9.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 288,701 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,305 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 2.65% of Federal Agricultural Mortgage worth $48,496,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGM. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 1,287 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 2,075 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 39.0% in the 3rd quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 385 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Capital LLC FL raised its holdings in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL now owns 6,612 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 68.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on AGM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Federal Agricultural Mortgage from $219.00 to $215.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Federal Agricultural Mortgage from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Federal Agricultural Mortgage has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.00.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AGM opened at $162.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $170.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.60. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $146.69 and a fifty-two week high of $210.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.57.

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

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This is a boost from Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.06%.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage 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.