California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 36,345 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 992,668 shares of the company’s stock after selling 36,345 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $71,690,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Tompkins Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Strengthening Families & Communities LLC grew its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Strengthening Families & Communities LLC now owns 641 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ADM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $56.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Citigroup increased 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. Robert W. Baird lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Friday, January 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of ADM opened at $61.57 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.81 and its 200-day moving average is $65.37. 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 market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a PE ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.77. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $23.79 billion. During the same period 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. Equities analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.48 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management 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.