Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. Lowers Holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,585 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,494 shares during the quarter. Archer-Daniels-Midland comprises about 1.0% of Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc.’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $4,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 41.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 19,430,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $524,531,000 after purchasing an additional 2,296,193 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,914,408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,256 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,979,867 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 52.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,502,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $89,738,000 after purchasing an additional 514,005 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ADM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reduced their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Stephens cut their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report 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 report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.89.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

NYSE:ADM opened at $48.80 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.16. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 52-week low of $44.92 and a 52-week high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.07. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 2.10%. The business had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. 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 currently 56.51%.

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.