AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Purchases 360,844 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 26.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 360,844 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $87,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.8% in the third quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 0.9% during the third quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 20,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,234,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.1% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 5,125 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 0.9 %

ADM stock opened at $46.12 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $44.92 and a 1-year high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.44 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $22.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.72. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.95.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 55.40%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Profile

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company engages in the procurement, transportation, storage, processing, and merchandising of agricultural commodities, ingredients, flavors, and solutions in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition.