Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Shares Acquired by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 62,359,269 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 706,567 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 13.03% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $3,150,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 724.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 569 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ADM. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

ADM opened at $46.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.76, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a twelve month low of $44.92 and a twelve month high of $66.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.38.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.51%.

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

About Archer-Daniels-Midland

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.