Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. (NYSE:AGM) Short Interest Down 10.8% in May

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. (NYSE:AGM) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 113,100 shares, a drop of 10.8% from the May 15th total of 126,800 shares. Currently, 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 51,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $212.00 price objective (down from $225.00) on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Stock Performance

AGM traded up $0.66 on Tuesday, reaching $174.73. The company had a trading volume of 44,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,679. Federal Agricultural Mortgage has a 1 year low of $137.16 and a 1 year high of $199.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 10.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $180.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $183.25.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 6th. The credit services provider reported $3.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.94 by $0.02. Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a net margin of 13.79% and a return on equity of 22.01%. The firm had revenue of $403.63 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Federal Agricultural Mortgage will post 16.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Federal Agricultural Mortgage’s payout ratio is 34.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Agricultural Mortgage

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AGM. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the first quarter valued at about $24,137,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the fourth quarter valued at about $18,283,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 8.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 486,964 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $95,435,000 after buying an additional 36,560 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 943.6% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,355 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $5,422,000 after buying an additional 25,638 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballast Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in the third quarter valued at about $3,575,000. 68.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Company Profile

Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through four segments: Corporate AgFinance, Farm & Ranch, Rural Utilities, and Renewable Energy. The company's Agricultural Finance line of business engages in purchasing and retaining eligible loans and securities; guaranteeing the payment of principal and interest on securities that represent interests in or obligations secured by pools of eligible loans; servicing eligible loans; and issuing LTSPCs for eligible loans.