Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) saw a significant drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,360,000 shares, a drop of 13.3% from the January 15th total of 10,800,000 shares. Approximately 2.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,340,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland stock opened at $45.54 on Tuesday. Archer-Daniels-Midland 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.62. The company has a market cap of $21.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.58 and a beta of 0.72.

Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.07. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 2.10% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The company had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Archer-Daniels-Midland announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, December 11th that permits the company to repurchase 100,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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 issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This is a positive change from Archer-Daniels-Midland’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. Archer-Daniels-Midland’s dividend payout ratio is 55.40%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on ADM. Bank of America dropped their target price on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $55.00 to $52.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $52.00 to $47.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Archer-Daniels-Midland presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.11.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ADM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,359,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,150,390,000 after acquiring an additional 706,567 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,018,256 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,152,539 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,068,626,000 after buying an additional 1,722,428 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,715,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $590,305,000 after buying an additional 247,647 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,035,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $557,489,000 after buying an additional 275,792 shares during the period. 78.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.