Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) Hits New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday after Stephens lowered their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $52.00. The stock traded as low as $47.46 and last traded at $47.54, with a volume of 7218877 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.02.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on ADM. Barclays lowered their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $51.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $63.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.56.

Institutional Trading of Archer-Daniels-Midland

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 2.07%. The company’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

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

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.