Xponance Inc. Grows Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Xponance Inc. lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 20.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 92,768 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 15,488 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $6,700,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of ADM. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,303,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,372,000 after buying an additional 252,486 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,547,232 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter valued at about $525,111,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,626,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,185,000 after acquiring an additional 467,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 5.6% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,696,394 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,779,000 after purchasing an additional 195,255 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $62.60 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1 year low of $50.72 and a 1 year high of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $58.28 and a 200 day moving average of $65.67. The stock has a market cap of $31.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.77.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is currently 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on ADM shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $56.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Roth Mkm cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $85.00 to $74.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

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.