Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $1.30 Million Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System trimmed its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,700 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,298,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:ADM opened at $46.12 on Monday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12-month low of $44.92 and a 12-month high of $66.08. The company has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.06 and a 200 day moving average of $54.78. The company has a current ratio of 5.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to buyback 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ADM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stephens lowered their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company 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.