Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) Stock Price Down 7% Following Insider Selling

Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO)’s share price traded down 7% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $13.10 and last traded at $13.1270. 603,821 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 1,040,548 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.11.

Specifically, CEO Mariano Bosch sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.50, for a total transaction of $1,450,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 897,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,010,110.50. This represents a 10.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on AGRO. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Adecoagro from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Bank of America upgraded Adecoagro from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Adecoagro from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Adecoagro in a research note on Monday, December 1st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Adecoagro in a report on Monday, February 16th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Adecoagro currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.20.

Adecoagro Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.38. The company has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a PE ratio of -164.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.29 and a beta of 0.44.

Adecoagro (NYSE:AGRO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $415.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $371.95 million. Adecoagro had a negative return on equity of 1.17% and a negative net margin of 0.55%. As a group, research analysts expect that Adecoagro S.A. will post 1.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Adecoagro

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Adecoagro in the 4th quarter valued at about $147,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL lifted its stake in Adecoagro by 134.0% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 88,132 shares of the company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 50,464 shares during the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in Adecoagro during the fourth quarter worth approximately $939,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Adecoagro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Adecoagro by 240.9% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 276,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,192,000 after purchasing an additional 195,308 shares during the last quarter. 45.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Adecoagro

Adecoagro (NYSE: AGRO) is a leading agricultural and renewable energy company with core operations in South America. Founded in 2002 by Argentine entrepreneur Alejandro Bulgheroni, the company has grown into a vertically integrated platform covering crop production, sugar and ethanol manufacturing, and dairy operations. Adecoagro’s business model spans the full value chain, from seed selection and planting through harvesting, processing and distribution of commodities.

The company manages over 700,000 hectares of farmland across Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.