California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 56,415 Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 828,942 shares of the company’s stock after selling 56,415 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.17% of Archer-Daniels-Midland worth $41,878,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ADM. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter worth about $61,000. Allianz SE bought a new position in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,565,000. Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $719,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 222,932 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,263,000 after acquiring an additional 5,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 848,364 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,859,000 after purchasing an additional 129,525 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Down 0.5 %

ADM stock opened at $47.97 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.94. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 1-year low of $44.92 and a 1-year high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.77 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.51 dividend. This is an increase from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.63.

Archer-Daniels-Midland 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.