AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Buys 360,844 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd increased its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 26.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,730,182 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 360,844 shares during the period. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd owned approximately 0.36% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $87,409,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ADM. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 179.4% in the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 556 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on ADM shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $49.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $56.00 to $50.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.11.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

NYSE:ADM opened at $46.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.72. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $44.92 and a fifty-two week high of $66.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 5.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $50.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.95.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 11th that allows the company to repurchase 100,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $0.51 dividend. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.40%.

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.