UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Reiterates Overweight Rating, Raises PT on American Vanguard Corp. Following Midwest Farm Tour

In a report published Monday, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael E. Cox reiterated an Overweight rating on American Vanguard Corp. AVD, and slightly raised the price target from $36.00 to $37.00. In the report, Cox noted, “We are increasing our estimates and raising our price target on AVD following our discussions with farmers and crop chemical dealers in Iowa and Minnesota late last week. Resistance issues are very topical with growers this season, and in spite of the shortened field prep window due to wet spring weather, farmers appear to be sticking to original planting and crop chemical application plans. For 2Q, we see AVD's corn herbicide product potentially driving upside to estimates; dealers in our tour last week mentioned that Impact sales are up significantly, some seeing a 3x increase y/y, due to the co-marketing agreement with Monsanto and the incentive AVD offers farmers to use both chemicals. Applying the same previous 18x FY14 EPS multiple our price target moves to $37 and we reiterate our Overweight rating.” American Vanguard Corp. closed on Friday at $30.63.