Planned Solutions Inc. Takes $98,000 Position in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ADM. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 71.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 18,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,688,000 after purchasing an additional 7,821 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 1st quarter worth $277,000. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 1st quarter worth approximately $226,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its position 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 459,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,512,000 after acquiring an additional 9,327 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ADM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down from $104.00) on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $96.00 to $61.00 in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. TheStreet cut shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and fifteen have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.00.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of ADM opened at $62.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $32.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.84 and a beta of 0.75. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.72 and a fifty-two week high of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $56.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.46.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 12th. The company reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $22.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.79 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 3.71% and a return on equity of 15.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 8th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 7th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is currently 31.25%.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, March 12th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 6.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Profile

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities, products, and ingredients in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition.