J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Has $1.36 Million Stock Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 35.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,830 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,919 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ADM. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 71.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,688,000 after buying an additional 7,821 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the first quarter worth about $277,000. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the first quarter worth about $226,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 22.0% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 31,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,798,000 after buying an additional 5,586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.1% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 459,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,512,000 after buying an additional 9,327 shares during the last quarter. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Roth Capital cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Barclays cut Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “overweight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.50.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE ADM opened at $62.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52 week low of $50.72 and a 52 week high of $87.30.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.43 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 15.25% and a net margin of 3.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, March 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 6.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.