Sentry Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,811 shares of the company’s stock after selling 302 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ADM. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after buying an additional 7,821 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 1st quarter valued at about $277,000. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the first quarter worth approximately $226,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 22.0% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 31,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,798,000 after purchasing an additional 5,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.1% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 459,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,512,000 after purchasing an additional 9,327 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on ADM. Stifel Nicolaus cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Argus cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.4 %

ADM opened at $60.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a one year low of $50.72 and a one year high of $87.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $57.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.81. The company has a market cap of $30.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.42 and a beta of 0.77.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The company had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 7th. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.