Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC lessened its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,379 shares of the company’s stock after selling 284 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ADM. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 valued at $1,160,755,000 after purchasing an additional 5,702,451 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 10,382,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296,193 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,045,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,914,408,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018,256 shares during 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 valued at $237,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007,494 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 52.0% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ADM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of 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. Stephens decreased their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America downgraded Archer-Daniels-Midland from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $63.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Archer-Daniels-Midland has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.33.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance

NYSE:ADM opened at $46.13 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 5.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $22.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.72. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a fifty-two week low of $45.01 and a fifty-two week high of $66.08.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 55.40%.

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

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.