WASHINGTON TRUST Co Trims Stock Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

WASHINGTON TRUST Co reduced its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,621 shares of the company’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ADM. State Street Corp increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,364,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,369,897,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314,810 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,303,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,372,000 after purchasing an additional 252,486 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,641,438 shares of the company’s stock worth $651,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,232 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the fourth quarter worth about $525,111,000. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 9.1% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 5,626,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,185,000 after buying an additional 467,243 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ADM. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Citigroup began coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. Roth Mkm downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $98.00 to $66.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $67.00 in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Roth Capital downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ADM opened at $62.79 on Friday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $55.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.43. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $50.72 and a 1-year high of $87.30. The company has a market cap of $32.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.81 and a beta of 0.75.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The company’s revenue was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.