Stephens Inc. AR Sells 3,761 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Stephens Inc. AR trimmed its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,555 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,761 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $1,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 12.7% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 28,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 3,190 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 300.8% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 7,203 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 5,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the period. Finally, Paragon Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the 3rd quarter worth $1,794,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ADM. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Stephens decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 2.6 %

ADM opened at $45.22 on Thursday. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $45.01 and a 12 month high of $66.08. The company has a current ratio of 5.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.42 and a 200 day moving average of $55.08. The firm has a market cap of $21.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $21.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

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

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s payout ratio is 55.40%.

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.