Brokerages Set Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Price Target at $67.50

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and fourteen have issued a hold recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $67.50.

ADM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $66.00 to $60.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Roth Mkm downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $98.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Roth Capital downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE ADM opened at $60.52 on Friday. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a 12 month low of $50.72 and a 12 month high of $87.30. The stock has a market cap of $30.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.46 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $57.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 EPS 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 business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.93 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 5.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 8th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exeter Financial LLC raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 24,460 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,547,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC bought a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter valued at $212,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 4,732 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 73.2% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 11,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $737,000 after acquiring an additional 4,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 4,207 shares of the company’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in 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.