Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and six have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.63.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ADM. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $47.87 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 12 month low of $44.92 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The company has a market capitalization of $22.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.24.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.51%.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ADM. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 26.4% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,409,000 after acquiring an additional 360,844 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,473,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,340,000 after purchasing an additional 894,562 shares during the period. Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,217,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth about $614,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 127.7% during the fourth quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP now owns 46,950 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,372,000 after buying an additional 26,329 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.